Victims

For the people in the Suffolk village of Finch, Randall Jowett is a quietly spoken stranger renting a holiday cottage. But Finch is still haunted by the Godwin murders six years ago, when three adults and two children were methodically slaughtered during a robbery at Tannerslade Farm. The killers were never caught. Why should anyone have suspected Randall Jowett or Giles Lambert, two Cambridge students, from respectable homes and unconnected to the village, who had twisted their considerable intelligence to planning and committing the perfect crime? But no amount of intelligence can overcome the corrosive effects of guilt. Tannerslade Farm is now owned by the only survivor of the Godwin family, Trevor Godwin, but life is far from perfect and he is haunted by the events of 1990. Desperate to seek some form of forgiveness, Randall finds himself returning to the village. His landlady, Joyce, is more than curious about her knew tenant. Finch, a generally quiet town, still in mourning for the lives lost, holds little pleasure for Joyce. Married to a cunning adulterer and under the thumb of an over-bearing mother, Joyce needs an outlet. But when Randall gets in touch with Giles, out of desperation, Giles steps up. The events of six years ago are back, but this time, Giles will make sure there is no one left to tell. Will the town of Finch see yet another massacre rip through the streets? Victims is a dark and gripping thriller filled with deceit, suspicion and betrayal. Praise for Robert Richardson. ''With this, his first novel, Robert Richardson makes a most impressive debut as a writer of the classical English detective story... He knows how to create suspense and an atmosphere of incipient evil; he provides us with a genuine puzzle, his characters are believable people, and the motive of his murderer is psycho-logically credible." - P D James "Skilful rerouting and the taste of real tears" - The Sunday Times "Eccentrics, suspects and witty writing abound" - The Times "Here is a book to be missed only at your own peril" - Armchair Detective "Elegantly written, beautifully characterised, suspenseful and oddly moving" - Mystery Reader's Journal - "Grand entertainment, deft handling and suave wit" - Publishers Weekly Robert Richardson won the Crime Writers' Association John Creasey Best First Book award with The Latimer Mercy, and then wrote five more Augustus Maltravers mysteries before turning to psychological novels. The Hand of Strange Children was immediately shortlisted for the CWA's Gold Dagger, followed by the praised Significant Others. A former chairman of the CWA, he is also a journalist who has worked for, among others, the Observer, The Times, The Independent and The Daily Mail. Married with two sons, he lives in Old Hatfield.