Cause For Concern

What secret could be so terrible that a mother would endure years of abuse to keep it concealed?

Susan Trent is in her sixties, living in a house she loves, in a prosperous village. She has a nice job in the local estate agents which keeps her active, and she very much enjoys her garden: she ought to be well-satisfied with her lot. Instead she lives in constant terror of her semi-employed, abusive, middle-aged son. Her friends suspects that the cuts and bruises she explains away as her own clumsiness are really caused by his fists, but no-one steps in, unsure of why she puts up with it.

Then a stranger comes to lodge in the village, triggering a series of events which will eventually bring to light why Susan has really been so protective of her son. But not until much more of her blood has been spilled.

“There is not a word wasted in Margaret Yorke's deftly constructed crime novels, yet they have a hinterland greater than many novels twice the length. Her understanding of the faultlines that run through human beings is second to none”

Margaret Yorke knows all about human weaknesses and follies, vanities and ambitions, as well as about that rarer phenomenon, real, unadulterated evil - Susan Hill

The mistress of the skilfully-spun suspense novel . . . her quiet, unemphatic style of narrative makes the story a compelling read - Sunday Telegraph

Her short, sparse accounts of things going wrong and innocent people getting caught up in events beyond their control never fails to induce a powerful sense of apprehension and foreboding - Guardian

Margaret Yorke was awarded the 1999 Cartier Diamond Dagger for her outstanding contribution to the crime fiction genre. She was a past chairman of the Crime Writers' Association and the author of over 50 novels. She died in November 2012.

What secret could be so terrible that a mother would endure years of abuse to keep it concealed?Susan Trent is in her sixties, living in a house she loves, in a prosperous village. She has a nice job in the local estate agents which keeps her active, and she very much enjoys her garden: she ought to be well-satisfied with her lot. Instead she lives in constant terror of her semi-employed, abusive, middle-aged son. Her friends suspects that the cuts and bruises she explains away as her own clumsiness are really caused by his fists, but no-one steps in, unsure of why she puts up with it.Then a stranger comes to lodge in the village, triggering a series of events which will eventually bring to light why Susan has really been so protective of her son. But not until much more of her blood has been spilled.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.