Simon Serailler is faced with that most complicated of investigations - a cold case.
Freak weather and flash floods all over southern England. Half of Lafferton is afloat. A landslip on the Moor has closed the bypass and, as the rain slowly drains away, a shallow grave - and a skeleton - are exposed.
It doesn't take long to identify the remains as those of the missing teenager, Harriet Lowther, last seen carrying a tennis racket while waiting for a bus. But that was sixteen years ago.
How long will it take to trawl through the old, stale evidence and assess it anew? The Lafferton force is struggling with staff shortages and economies, and Simon has to do a lot of the legwork on his own. Meanwhile, his sister, Dr Cat Deerbon, is fighting for extra funding for the hospice which is threatened with cuts and closures.
All of the Simon Serailler novels offer more than merely a murder mystery, and The Betrayal of Trust is no exception: it takes a brave, truthful look at old age and the associated problems of terminal illness which, in the future, will bring our society to the brink of painful conflicts of conscience.
Susan Hill's gifts are displayed here to dazzling effect: her empathy and understanding of the human heart, her brilliance when evoking character and her tremendous powers of exciting storytelling.
--This text refers to the
hardcover edition.
Praise for Susan Hill's Serrailler detective series
'Susan Hill's Serailler novels, with their persuasively drawn copper and his equally well-rounded family, are a real treat.' Daily Express
'Brilliantly compelling prose' Daily Mirror
'A crime series that specialises in sidestepping conventions, always to exhilarating effect ... These books succeed in harnessing all the genre's addictive power while maintaining a complexity and fascination entirely their own.' Independent
'Beautifully drawn characters' Spectator
'Not all great novelists can write crime fiction but when one like Susan Hill does the result is stunning' Ruth Rendell
--This text refers to the
hardcover edition.
Review
"A page-turner" (Guardian)
"Hugely enjoyable" (Daily Mail)
"Hill can't write a bad sentence and her characters are all completely convincing - no more so than her long-serving detective Simon Serrailler" (Henry Sutton Daily Mirror)
"Her intellectual stance is engaging, her plot unpredictable and her detective a likeable presence" (Hannah McGill Scotland on Sunday)
"Far more than a whodunit...written with a novelist's flair, in that the characters, however fleeting, are carefully drawn and believable" (Leslie Geddes-Brown Country Life)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
A cold case comes back to life in this sixth book in the highly successful Simon Serrailler detective series 'eagerly awaited by all aficionados' (P.D. James)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Susan Hill's novels and short stories have won the Whitbread, Somerset Maugham and John Llewellyn Rhys awards and been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. She is the author of over fifty books, including the five previous Serrailler crime novels, The Various Haunts of Men, The Pure in Heart, The Risk of Darkness, The Vows of Silence and The Shadows in the Street. The play adapted from her famous ghost story, The Woman in Black, has been running in the West End since 1989; it has also recently been made into a film starring Daniel Radcliffe.
Susan Hill was born in Scarborough and educated at King's College London. She is married to the Shakespeare scholar, Stanley Wells, and they have two daughters. She lives in Gloucestershire, where she runs her own small publishing firm, Long Barn Books.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
![The Betrayal of Trust: Simon Serrailler Book 6 by [Susan Hill]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51184OI17YL._SY346_.jpg)
