The Party at No 5

Shelley Smith

£10.99

A tense and chilling story of two women trapped in a toxic, inter-dependent relationship that culminates in murder. One of the great ‘lost’ authors of the 1940s and 1950s, Shelley Smith stands out for her vivid yet nuanced characterisation, her mastery of plotting and her evocation of English suburban life.

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Publish Date: 10/08/2026
ISBN: 9780712369701 Category: Tags: ,

Description

Sharing your home with an unwanted guest can be murder.

Elderly Mrs. Rampage lives alone in a large London house full of the antiques and heirlooms she’s collected over the years. But she’s struggling to cope, and as her only daughter lives thousands of miles away, she is persuaded to advertise for a housekeeper and companion. Reluctantly, she accepts the courteous and capable Mrs. Roach into No 5 to help her.

With few possessions of her own, Mrs. Roach is in desperate need of a place to stay, but she soon has her own ideas about how things should be run in the house. And as Mrs. Rampage grows increasingly protective of her knick-knacks, and pushes at the boundaries of her new companion’s personal privacy, the pair’s initially amicable relationship soon turns sour. Before long, both women are thoroughly miserable, but stuck in unhappy coexistence with nowhere else to go. When Mrs. Roach digs in and makes it her duty to stay, the lives of both women become entangled in catastrophic circumstances.

Additional information

Dimensions 190 mm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Paperback

Pages

240

Language

English

Edition

Reprint

Dewey

823.914 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K