'Brilliant'
Paula Hawkins

In 1964, the eccentric American novelist Patricia Highsmith is hiding out in a cottage in Suffolk, to concentrate on her writing and escape her fans. She has another motive too - a secret romance with a married lover based in London.

Unfortunately it soon becomes clear that all her demons have come with her. Prowlers, sexual obsessives, frauds, imposters, suicides and murderers: the tropes of her fictions clamour for her attention, rudely intruding on her peaceful Suffolk retreat. After the arrival of Ginny, an enigmatic young journalist bent on interviewing her, events take a catastrophic turn. Except, as always in Highsmith's troubled life, matters are not quite as they first appear . . .

Masterfully recreating Highsmith's much exercised fantasies of murder and madness, Jill Dawson probes the darkest reaches of the imagination in this novel - at once a brilliant portrait of a writer and an atmospheric, emotionally charged, riveting tale.

"It's brilliant" - Paula Hawkins

"THE CRIME WRITER represents an astonishing act of literary ventriloquism, easily on a par with THE MASTER, Colm Tóibín's fine novel about Henry James." - Mail on Sunday

"Ventriloquy is Dawson's forte . . . this fascinating, skilfully constructed novel builds a convincing picture of Patricia Highsmith" - Spectator

"You do not need to be a passionate Highsmith fan to admire this beautifully written and elegant novel, but I think it will particularly appeal to those who have read her books and know something about her life; they should recognise many of the allusions and ideas" - Literary Review

"An ingenious concept . . . Dawson can be applauded for her passionate immersion in her subject, and for creating a novel as dark and odd as the subject herself." - Guardian

"A beautifully crafted and utterly riveting blend of fact and fiction about a fascinating 20th-century figure." - Daily Mail

"Dawson has drawn a witty, creepy plot as well as a convincing character sketch of a woman all too easy to caricature" - Daily Telegraph

"Dawson skilfully constructs a dark tale that Highsmith fans will love" - Sunday Times

"A dark tale of madness and murder, of obsession and delusion, that's worthy of Highsmith herself" - Red

"An assured and visceral page-turner, as convincing as it is bold" - Lady

"An intoxicating, shadowy narrative . . . [Dawson's] imagined version of events will delight Highsmith's fans" - Crime Scene magazine

"Fantastically moody and appealingly unhinged - a piece of sophisticated literary ventriloquism that achieves a wonderful blurring of the lines between fact and fantasy." - Summer Reads, Guardian

"This novel is one wonderful long riff on Patricia Highsmith . . . Unsettling, sexy and gripping" - Tim Pears

"This novel is the real deal. Beautifully written and a must for all Highsmith fans." - Phyllis Nagy, scriptwriter of the film CAROL

"[An] impeccable portrait . . . a hugely compelling read, jam-packed full of tensions and psychological insight, all beautifully observed." - Sunday Express