A deadly scandal strikes an English village in this debut thriller.

Grace Bradshaw runs the Lake View Cafe in the village of Oakford. Her lover, Tom Marchant, owns the cafe and is also a school therapist. Grace’s 16-year-old daughter, Lily, is a friend and classmate of Tom’s daughter, Flo. Outwardly, Grace is fashionable, perky, and seems like quite a catch. But she has just murdered Amelie Townsend, a student who recently sought Tom’s professional help. Lily, who by choice doesn’t speak, helps dispose of the body in the nearby lake. Investigating Amelie’s disappearance is DS Annie Harper, who happens to be Tom’s former flame. With many believing that Amelie ran off with a boy, Grace’s scheme runs accordingly. Years ago and under different names, Grace and Lily received help from Tom after a family tragedy. Yet Grace has sworn revenge against Tom. Becoming his wife will make her retribution that much sweeter. As the village celebrates Monarchy Day, everyone gathers by the lake. Then a body washes ashore, causing chaos. When Grace becomes more dangerously erratic, Lily must decide between a life with no voice or a break with the tragic past. Tyler’s novel throbs with a gothic heart, from the madness and hidden relations lurking beneath genteel exteriors to Flo’s love of the band the Cure. Readers new to the thriller genre may be thrown by a narrative that paints in character and plot details briskly and selectively. Chapters narrated by Grace, Lily, and Flo alternate. Grace—the villainous architect here—often reveals the most straightforward information. Her depictions of others are also entertainingly savage, as in this line about Annie, who’s “pencil thin” from “a diet of loneliness.” The cast’s shared past is grim, if convoluted, and the sinister appearance of Uncle Frank Fanshawe proves devastating. The author does lean on Grace’s unstable personality to juice the plot. Nevertheless, well-placed flashbacks and a high body count generate momentum seasoned authors may envy.

A spryly written murder tale unafraid to take risks.