Set in Stone

In Robert Goddard's haunting mystery a strange house links past and present, a murder, a political scandal and an unexplained tragedy. Recovering from the recent death of his wife in a cliff fall, Tony Sheridan goes to stay with her sister and her husband at their house in Rutland. The house, called Otherways, is in some sense a character in the story: a strange, circular, moted construction dating from Edwardian times.

Disturbed by memories of his wife and a growing attraction to her sister, and troubled by vivid dreams, Sheridan learns that a murder committed at the house in 1939 still has resonances for those living in the neighbourhood, including the sister of the murdered woman.

There is a scandal surrounding the murderer's brother, and enough hints of other mysteries to forewarn Sheridan of impending disaster as he embarks on a secret affair. But that disaster is far worse than a friendship betrayed. Its nature is revealed by the ghosts that have haunted Otherways over the years -- of whom he comes to fear that he may be one himself.

ROBERT GODDARD was born in Hampshire. He read History at Cambridge and worked as an educational administrator in Devon before becoming a full-time novelist. He is the author of many bestselling novels, including Into the Blue which won the first WH Smith Thumping Good Read Award and was dramatised for TV in 1997, starring John Thaw.