The long shadow

"Britain's equivalent to Patricia Highsmith, Celia Fremlin wrote psychological thrillers that changed the landscape of crime fiction for ever: her novels are domestic, subtle, penetrating - and quite horribly chilling". (Andrew Taylor). The Long Shadow (1975), Celia Fremlin's ninth novel, tells a Christmas story with a difference. Imogen Barnicott's husband - a celebrated, cruel and egocentric professor of Classics - has recently died in a car accident. Now, to the pain of widowhood is added the attentions of an anonymous phone-caller who accuses Imogen of murder and alleges that he can prove it. But can Imogen be certain her husband is truly dead and gone? "Genuine chiller...Splendid suspense in a brilliantly captured domestic setting". (Sunday Telegraph). "The story unfolds with brilliant ingenuity, always on the verge of explanation, ever plausibly plunging deeper". (Times).