The Comforts of Home (Simon Serrailler Series #9)

by Susan Hill

Overview

A Simon Serrailler Mystery from the award-winning author, “The Comforts of Home displays Susan Hill’s trademark talent for the grotesque, the macabre, and the stunning” (CrimeReads).

In this gripping thriller, Simon, eager to be back at work after recovering from a near-fatal injury, takes on a cold-case review for the Lafferton police about a girl who disappeared some years before. Meanwhile, his family adjusts to changes of its own; namely his sister’s marriage to Chief Constable Kieron Bright.

But when events take an unfavorable turn for the Chief Constable and an arsonist goes on a deadly rampage in Lafferton, Simon’s personal and professional lives intertwine in more complex and devastating ways than ever before.

In the tradition of the fabulous mysteries of Ruth Rendell and P.D. James, The Comforts of Home is Susan Hill’s best work yet—a heart-pounding new addition to a highly applauded and “elegant” (New York Times) series.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781419738951
Publisher:	The Overlook Press
Publication date:	03/31/2020
Series:	Simon Serrailler Series , #9
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	287,351
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Susan Hill’s Simon Serrailler series has sold more than one million copies worldwide. Her novels and short stories have won the Whitbread Book, Somerset Maugham, and John Llewellyn Rhys awards, the Yorkshire Post Book of the Year, and have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. The play adapted from her famous ghost novel, The Woman in Black, has been running in the West End since 1989. The titles in the Simon Serrailler series are all available from The Overlook Press.

Editorial Reviews

09/17/2018
British author Hill’s uneven ninth mystery to feature Det. Chief Supt. Simon Serrailler (after 2015’s The Soul of Discretion) finds Simon recovering on the windswept island of Taransay after a harrowing case nearly killed him. The sea air and close-knit community has done wonders, but his idyll is shaken when well-regarded newcomer Sandy Murdoch is found dead. The shorthanded local police ask Simon to investigate, and he discovers that Sandy may have been hiding something that led to her death. Meanwhile, back home in Lafferton, Simon’s brother-in-law, Chief Constable Kieron Bright, has his hands full with a series of arsons and asks Simon to look into the case of 24-year-old Kimberley Still, missing for five years and thought to be a victim of jailed murderer Lee Russon, who denies involvement. Kimberley’s mother believes otherwise and demands justice. After returning to Lafferton, Simon digs into Kimberley’s disappearance. Credible characters and plenty of atmosphere make up only in part for short, choppy chapters and an underwhelming finale. Agent: Vivien Green, Sheil Land Assoc. (U.K.). (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Susan Hill [has an] effortless ability to terrify, astonish, and implicate us all in just a few sentences. . . . The Comforts of Home will provide no comfort at all, taking us into the chilling world of a remote Scottish island, and displaying Susan Hill’s trademark talent for the grotesque, the macabre, and the stunning.”

CrimeReads

An eerie, hair-raising mystery . . . Simon’s personal and professional lives merge in more complex and chilling ways than ever before.

Women's World

A tour de force . . . As the best mysteries do, [The Comforts of Home] probes the mysteries within, especially the interaction of an investigator’s own inner darkness and that of the criminals he pursues. . . . A fine read, memorable and satisfying in its dark tangles and solutions.”

New York Journal of Books

Hill’s writing prowess is on full view here; both newcomers and the series’ many established fans will find it difficult to leave the Serraillers’ world at the close of this long-awaited entry. A good choice for Louise Penny fans.

Booklist

2018-09-02

A long-serving procedural hero faces health challenges that make him question his future with the police.

In a surprising and dark series turn, Hill opens with DCI Simon Serrailler (The Soul of Discretion, 2015, etc.) hospitalized from his latest case and trying desperately to recover. True to her emphasis on realistic consequences, Hill doesn't make Simon's convalescence easy: His world is forever changed. Unsure about his future with the Lafferton police department in spite of the passage of a significant period of time and the encouraging words of his supervisor, Chief Kieron Bright, Simon goes to mull and heal on the remote Scottish island of Taransay. While he's there, he agrees to do some cold-case work for Kieron, who's not just his chief, but now also his brother-in-law, having married Simon's sister, Dr. Cat Deerbon, during Simon's hospitalization and recovery. Kieron asks Simon to investigate the murder of Kimberley, the daughter of Marion Still, who was likely killed by a repeat offender imprisoned for life. Doing administrative work doesn't restore Simon to his old self but does help remind him of his unique skill set, which comes in handy when a member of the small island community suddenly dies under mysterious circumstances. Back in Lafferton, Cat and Kieron adjust to married life while Cat considers relieving the stress of her job by doing private health work, a tempting move her deceased first husband would certainly have objected to. The honeymoon ends with a crash when Cat and Simon's irascible father, Richard, shows up with a health scare of his own.

Hill continues to split her focus between exploring procedural conventions and showing her hero as he builds a family, emphasizing his development over his caseload.

Kirkus Reviews