The Short Weekend

Vintage Penguin First Edition. #1140. The Short Weekend in the Penguin edition is T.S. Strachan’s taut, quietly unsettling crime novel built around a brief holiday that turns sharply away from relaxation. What begins as a couple’s attempt to escape routine becomes a tense study of suspicion, shifting loyalties and the way small choices can spiral into danger. Strachan keeps the narrative tight and economical, focusing on atmosphere, psychological pressure and the slow reveal of motives rather than overt melodrama. The result is a compact, character-driven mystery that uses its short timespan to heighten unease and momentum.