Sarah Lawton

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A Drowning Tide

"Written with panache, A Drowning Tide announces the arrival of a duo that might just come to rival the Thursday Murder Club" DAILY MAIL

When her next-door neighbour goes missing, reclusive Merry dives into an irresistible puzzle.

Merry lives a simple life on the Isle of Wight. For work, she creates cryptic crosswords. For pleasure, she swims in the ocean's cold embrace. In between, she keeps an eye on her neighbour, Lucas Manning, son of her late best friend Julia. Until one day, Lucas disappears.

The Manning family has always had a sinister side - only Lucas has been above suspicion. Until now. And with Lucas's employers desperate to find him and the sensitive project he has absconded with, has Merry been wrong about Lucas all along?

As her search for Lucas unfolds, Merry suddenly has to confront her own dark past. And as the tangle of her life story rises to the surface, Merry is about to find a twist she never expected.

Combining a spiky, singular voice with a brilliantly twisty mystery, this is an unpredictable, gripping story of toxic families, dangerous secrets and the past catching up with the present - perfect for fans of Death of a Bookseller, The Sunday Philosophy Club and Richard Osman.

"You'll be booking your Isle of Wight holiday before you turn the last page" TAMMY COHEN, author of They All Fall Down

"In Merry, we have a balanced heroine for our time: Prickly and flawed . . . forgiving and forgiven. A book to dive into!" ROSIE SANDLER, author of Murder Takes Route

"The story brought to mind the ocean - seemingly calm or ominous on top, with all sorts of currents and debris beneath the surface, ready to snag the unwary" JM HALL, author of A Spoonful of Murder