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The Long, Long Afternoon

The Long, Long Afternoon

Author(s): Inga Vesper

Location(s): California

Genre(s): Historical, Fiction

Era(s): Late 1950s

Location

Content

The sunniest places hold the darkest secrets . . . A stunning 1950s set debut mystery brimming with atmosphere and perfect for fans of Tangerine, Small Pleasures and Mad Men.

Yesterday, I kissed my husband for the last time . . . It’s the summer of 1959, and the well-trimmed lawns of Sunnylakes, California, wilt under the sun. At some point during the long, long afternoon, Joyce Haney, wife, mother, vanishes from her home, leaving behind two terrified children and a bloodstain on the kitchen floor. While the Haney’s neighbours get busy organising search parties, it is Ruby Wright, the family’s ‘help’, who may hold the key to this unsettling mystery. Ruby knows more about the secrets behind Sunnylakes’ starched curtains than anyone, and it isn’t long before the detective in charge of the case wants her help. But what might it cost her to get involved? In these long hot summer afternoons, simmering with lies, mistrust and prejudice, it could only take one spark for this whole ‘perfect’ world to set alight . . .

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Book Reviews

Lead Review

Author: Tina Hartas

4.5* Welcome to Sunnylakes where the lawns are manicured to the nth degree, the picket fences are just so and the people are white and affluent. It is indeed a sunny place (the temperatures...

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