Mystery
It’s opening night of The Manor, the ‘new jewel of the Dorset coastline’. The drama is all out front: soaring ocean views, emerald lawns stretching to the cliff edge, the Owen Dacre-designed infinity pool. But on this side, the landward side, there’s another world.
Fiction
An engine idling on the edge of the woods at night. A message left in a hollow tree. A summoning. A fox, browsing in the dead beech leaves for the trail of a rabbit, stops still. Raises its head, ears pricked, paw raised, before turning and fleeing.
Chapters
It’s probably unfair to say that a podcast ruined my life. Technically, my life was destroyed the night Savvy was murdered. And then it was destroyed again, the next day, when I decided to take an early-morning stroll with her blood drying on my dress.
Chapters
A podcaster has decided to ruin my life, so I’m buying a chicken. I make plans for this chicken as I sit in my cubicle at Walter J. Brown Investment Services, waiting to be fired. I stopped pretending to work two hours ago.
Chapters
I’m writing this all here because I just know there will be things I’ve seen that might matter further down the road. Some details that seem small now will turn out to be extremely important, or the other way around.
Chapters
It’s one of those heavy summer evenings where the air feels so thick you could swim in it. When I surface from my journey on the Piccadilly Line, even the staleness of Earl’s Court Station feels like a breath of fresh air.
Chapters
1988 OUR PARENTS OWNED A DAY CARE THEY RAN FROM OUR HOME IN New Hampshire—a converted old barn with a bright rainbow painted on the roof. Rainbow Kids Care, it was called. We had a little goat farm with five goats (Donny, Lonny, Sunny, Spunky, and Trailblazer) and a
Chapters
THE FIRST COURTROOM I EVER SAW WAS ON AN EPISODE OF ONE Life to Live. My older sister, Éclair, was a soap opera fanatic.
Chapters
When you live in your car, you have to keep things simple. You’re not going to be hosting any major gatherings, for one thing. No wine and cheese parties, no poker nights. That’s fine, because I don’t have anyone I want to see.
Chapters
Nina Winchester leans forward on her caramel-colored leather sofa, her legs crossed to reveal just the slightest hint of her knees peeking out under her silky white skirt.
Chapters
Ever since Ryan asked me to move in with him five days ago and I said yes, he’s been impatient for it to happen.
Chapters
It starts with the little things: an extra toothbrush in the glass holder next to the sink, a few articles of clothing in the smallest drawer, phone chargers on both sides of the bed.
Chapters
When I pull onto the street of my parents’ house in my old blue Toyota, I’ve got a laminated ID badge for the Raker Penitentiary in my handbag.
Chapters
As the prison doors slam shut behind me, I question every decision I’ve ever made in my life. This is not where I want to be right now. At all.
Chapters
The next day is the same as the last, dew burning off quickly under a blue empty sky. Cal checks in with Lena, who reports that Trey is grand and eating everything in the house bar the dog food, and then spends the morning up in his back field, where he has a vegetable patch.
Chapters
Trey comes over the mountain carrying a broken chair. She carries it on her back, with the legs sticking out round her waist and held over her shoulders. The sky is a blue so hot it looks glazed, and the sun is burning the back of Trey’s neck.