Peter Swanson's novels include The Girl With a Clock for a Heart, nominated for an LA Times book award, The Kind Worth Killing, a Richard and Judy pick and the iBooks store's thriller of the year in 2015; Rules for Perfect Murders, the 2020 Richard and Judy Pick; and most recently Nine Lives. He lives with his wife and cat on the north coast of Massachusetts.

This year's must-read festive chiller, a classic country house murder mystery.

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'Fiendishly good. . . Swanson goes from strength to strength.' Observer
'One of the world's best crime writers. Nobody writes psychopaths like Swanson.' MARK EDWARDS

I hope I'm describing this to you properly, dear diary.

December, 1989, and Ashley Smith - a bright-eyed American studying in London - has unexpectedly been invited by her classmate Emma Chapman to spend Christmas at her family's Cotswolds manor house, Starvewood Hall.

The holiday is a true English fantasy: woodland walks, charming pubs and elaborate dinners at the manor, with the added romantic potential of Emma's twin brother, Adam, who feels like Ashley's wildest dreams come true.

But is there something strange about the old house, both stately and rundown; what could the true motives of the mysterious Chapman family be; and what may lie beyond the pages of her diary?

Swept up in her own story, can Ashley see the horrors that may be about to play out?

'Superb, elegant crime writing with more than a nod to the genre's past.' Daily Mail
'In the killer elite, alongside Tana French, Gillian Flynn, and Lauren Beukes. Swanson's the real deal.' JOE HILL