The House by the River

A young poet on the verge of greatness makes a fatal mistake that destroys two lives. Stephen Byrne has it all: a beautiful home, an adoring wife, and critics calling him England's next great voice. But when his wife leaves for London and he pursues the family maid, a struggle in the darkness leaves Emily Gaunt dead on the library floor. Panicking, Stephen persuades his friend John Egerton to help dispose of the body in the river. When the corpse is discovered, the police suspect the innocent John. Now Stephen must watch his friend hang for a crime he committed, while the gossips of Hammerton Chase speculate and the noose tightens. Written in 1921, this is a ruthlessly efficient little thriller that understands how reputation shields the powerful while the innocent suffer. Herbert was a lawyer, and it shows in the cold precision of his plotting. For readers who want their crime fiction dark, their justice ambiguous, and their English countryside poisons by secrets.