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Frances Fyfield

    November 18, 1948

    Drawing deeply from her background as a criminal lawyer, this author crafts compelling narratives that explore the intricate landscapes of crime and human motivation. Her stories often unfold against the backdrop of evocative settings, particularly coastal locales that fuel her creative spirit. With a keen eye for psychological nuance and a fluid prose style, she delves into the moral complexities faced by her characters. Her work offers readers a profound insight into the intersection of law, morality, and the enduring questions of the human condition.

    Without Consent
    The Art of Drowning
    Seeking Sanctuary
    Shadow Play
    A Question of Guilt
    Clear Conscience
    • Clear Conscience

      • 288 pages
      • 11 hours of reading

      FYFIELD IS A WONDER . . . A very intricate and surprise-filled plot." --Los Angeles Times Book Review Helen West, Crown Prosecutor in domestic violence court, is working up a good case of burnout because justice-by-the-book seldom seems to do the women she represents much good. Helen's love affair with Police Superintendent Geoffrey Bailey also seems to be losing its fire. Then, as if someone has designed a test case for her, Helen learns that humble Cath, her cleaning woman, is being beaten by her husband. Cath has no family--her beautiful brother, Damien, has recently been brutally murdered--so she needs all the help she can get. Helen is willing to give it. But as the truth of Cath's young life, her marriage, and her brother's murder begin to take shape, piece by jagged piece, help and justice seem hard to come by . . . and may be forever beyond reach. "Fyfield is a brilliant writer, her pen dipped in acid and moonbeams." --The Cleveland Plain Dealer "Powerful stuff . . . Compelling."

      Clear Conscience
    • Shadow Play

      • 284 pages
      • 10 hours of reading

      In Shadow Play, Frances Fyfield hones her powers of writerly suspense to give us a sophisticated, psychologically gripping tale about crimes of the most twisted passions. The odd, vaguely menacing little man called Mr. Logo is a familiar figure in the old court building in London. Although frequently brought before the magistrate for indecent assault, he is invariably acquitted due to lack of evidence. He is especially familiar to Helen West, the take-no-prisoners Crown Prosecutor who has just failed for the fifth time to prosecute him. Now he is off-limits to her until his next appearance in court. Yet, when she befriends Rose, the young, compulsively secretive and promiscuous clerk in the office, Helen West unwittingly sets in motion events that will dangerously complicate her connection to Mr. Logo and push his rage and dark passion to lethal extremes.

      Shadow Play
    • Seeking Sanctuary

      • 320 pages
      • 12 hours of reading

      When Theo Calvert was driven out of the family home by his wife's cloying piety he had determined that his daughters would follow him, but in the face of the law, the girls' health and his wife's intransigence, he failed. But, if he lost the battle for their souls in life, he would make amends in death, craftily shaping his will to benefit them so long as they did not follow their mother's example. His daughters felt they had lost either way, especially Anna. She had promiscuously turned her back on her mother's teachings, but watched in horror as her sister Therese followed those same lessons and naively accepted the faith which Anna was certain had ruined their lives. In her rebellion against such blind belief she at first doesn't notice the worm in their midst when the convent where Therese has settled employs a new gardener. And when she does wake up to the danger she realises she may have left it too late to save their legacy and their lives.

      Seeking Sanctuary
    • With the skill and empathy which caused A.N. Wilson to describe her as 'the best female crime writer in this country', Frances Fyfield has produced an outstanding novel of the destruction of hatred and revenge.

      The Art of Drowning
    • A horrific rape case turns into a dilemma for prosecutor Helen West and Superintendent Bailey when the accused is a police officer whom they both know.

      Without Consent
    • Marianne Shearer is at the height of her career, a dauntingly successful barrister, respected by her peers and revered by her clients. So why has she killed herself? Peter Friel is determined to find out if her last trial held the reason for taking her own life.

      Blood from stone
    • Sarah Fortune inherited her flat from one of her many lovers. Now a son has appeared claiming it is his, morally if not strictly legally, and he is using illegal means to persuade Sarah to give it up: abusive letters threatening her personal harm. As it becomes more difficult to ignore these missives, Sarah comes across Henry, a timid, lonely man whose upstairs neighbour is using every trick in the racketeer landlord's book to make him leave his home: litter in the shared hallway, continual noise, poison set out for his cat. It seems that if they swap accommodation for a while they may be able to deal with each other's problems. But these two strangers have unknown connections in common: a well-meaning widow, a struggling therapist, and a man who sets fire to other people's property for a living ...

      Safer than Houses