Intimate Kill

This is a superbly written mystery novel, written with a great sensitivity that makes you care about even the minor characters. The book begins with Stephen Dawes being released from prison. He's served a long sentence for murdering his wife Marcia. It was a slightly unusual case - the body was never found. Stephen knows that he didn't kill Marcia. He's been convicted as a murderer and jailed simply by a strong case of circumstantial evidence. It's possible that Marcia committed suicide and framed Stephen as a final act of revenge for him having an affair and fathering a child. Margaret Yorke captures the feeling of dislocation that Stephen suffers as he emerges into a changed world. He wants to gently re-establish his life, paint his cottage white (a symbolic cleansing, thinks one of his friends) and track down his daughter to see what she looks like and check that she's OK. Stephen also wants to find out what really happened to his wife and quietly begins to search for her best friend... I've re-read this book with pleasure, it is well worth seeking out. The characters are well-drawn, the plot develops well and the dialogue is excellent. Perhaps the only weak point of the book is the title - it doesn't really capture the flavour of the novel at all.