The Couple at Number 9

A richly layered novel—part mystery, part suspense—but completely satisfying. Saffron and her boyfriend are renovating their dreamy Cotswold cottage to make room for a baby, as Saffy is pregnant. Her grandmother, Rose, once lived here, although no one in the family even knew of the cottage’s existence until a few years back. But when the contractors tear up the back garden to expand the kitchen, they discover not one but two corpses. Questions lead back to Rose, now in a nursing home with dementia, and soon enough Lorna, Saffy’s delightful mom, flies in from the south of Spain—tan, oversized earrings, skinny jeans, Spanish boy-toy—to help sort out what has blown up into a murder inquiry. This novel is overflowing with narrators and stories—we have documents from the past, Lorna’s memories, Rose’s memories, another storyline from a different family—and that’s just the start. But Douglas manages to keep all the balls in the air, the pace brisk, and the ending a total head-spinner. A classic slow burn, this novel will appeal to fans of Catherine Steadman and Lucy Foley.