The new psychological thriller from the bestselling author of Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter? and the Frieda Klein series.

Some friendships don’t survive the truth.

Nearly thirty years ago, Tyler Green was convicted of killing his university friend Leo Bauer. Now, newly released from prison, he is determined to face the past – and the friends who were there the night everything changed.

But when one of them is found dead soon after their reunion, suspicion falls immediately on Tyler. If he killed once, surely he could kill again. As Detective Maud O’Connor investigates, the truth about that night begins to unravel – revealing secrets no one wanted exposed. Can Tyler ever truly escape his past, or is history about to repeat itself?

Taut, atmospheric, and psychologically razor-sharp, What Happened That Night confirms Nicci French as a master of suspense.

PRAISE FOR NICCI FRENCH

‘No one does it better than Nicci French’ LEE CHILD 

‘Perfection’ SOPHIE HANNAH 

‘Unputdownable’ ERIN KELLY 

‘Powerful, moving and wise . . . I loved it’ JO CALLAGHAN 

‘Expertly paced, psychologically sharp, thoroughly enjoyable’ LOUISE CANDLISH 

‘No-one does the dark distortion of good intentions like Nicci French’ CARA HUNTER 

‘French always excels at depicting an ordinary life swept away by horror’ OBSERVER 

‘First-class’ INDEPENDENT 

Nancy North and her boyfriend Felix are making the move across London to Harlesden. A new flat, a new area, a new start. Because while Nancy is fine now, she wasn’t fine before. But settling into the new flat and meeting the new neighbours isn’t helped by Felix’s hovering concern. She is all right. She is sticking to her breathing exercises and doctor-prescribed help.    

So, when their new neighbour Kira Mullan is found dead by suicide, Felix is understandably worried about Nancy’s frame of mind. But Nancy saw Kira the day before she died and she didn’t strike her as someone who was suicidal – she was upset and angry, yes, but was she upset and angry enough to take her own life?    

Nancy is the only one convinced that there’s more to Kira’s death than has been discovered. But all the police and the neighbours see is a vulnerable woman who isn’t sure of what she saw, and might even be imagining things . . .    

Is Nancy imagining things, or are there more questions that should be asked about the last days of Kira Mullan?    

Nancy North and her boyfriend Felix are making the move across London to Harlesden. A new flat, a new area, a new start. Because while Nancy is fine now, she wasn’t fine before. But settling into the new flat and meeting the new neighbours isn’t helped by Felix’s hovering concern. She is all right. She is sticking to her breathing exercises and doctor-prescribed help.    

So, when their new neighbour Kira Mullan is found dead by suicide, Felix is understandably worried about Nancy’s frame of mind. But Nancy saw Kira the day before she died and she didn’t strike her as someone who was suicidal – she was upset and angry, yes, but was she upset and angry enough to take her own life?    

Nancy is the only one convinced that there’s more to Kira’s death than has been discovered. But all the police and the neighbours see is a vulnerable woman who isn’t sure of what she saw, and might even be imagining things . . .    

Is Nancy imagining things, or are there more questions that should be asked about the last days of Kira Mullan?    

‘A heroine you’ll be rooting for on every page and a forensic study of gaslighting. Pure literary adrenaline’  Erin Kelly

A RICHARD & JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK

‘One of their very best.  Compelling, moving and beautifully written  . . .    an absolute winner’  Observer
‘Classic Nicci French: an unputdownable missing-persons thriller that’s also a searing examination of family, memory and grief. A big-skied, full-blooded, broken-hearted book’ Erin Kelly

She’s loved by all who meet her. But someone wants her gone . . .

Then  

When beautiful and vivacious Charlotte Salter fails to turn up to her husband Alec’s 50th birthday party, her kids are worried, but Alec is not. As the days pass and there’s still no word from Charlie, her daughter, Etty, and her sons, Niall, Paul and Ollie, all struggle to come to terms with her disappearance.
How can anyone just vanish without a trace?
Left with no answers and in limbo, the Salter children try and go on with their lives, all the while thinking that their mother’s killer is potentially very close to home.

Now

After years away, Etty returns home to the small East Anglian village where she grew up to help move her father into a care home. Now in his eighties, Alec has dementia and often mistakes his daughter for her mother.  
Etty is a changed woman from the trouble-free girl she was when Charlie was still around – all the Salter children have spent decades running and hiding from their mother’s disappearance.
But when their childhood friends, Greg and Morgen Ackerley, decide to do a podcast about Charlotte’s disappearance, it seems like the town’s buried secrets – and the Salters’ – might finally come to light.

After all this time, will they finally find out what really happened to Charlotte Salter?

PRAISE FOR NICCI FRENCH:  

‘Fantastic – a breathless drumbeat of dread and suspense . . . no one does it better than Nicci French’  Lee Child
‘Expertly paced, psychologically sharp, thoroughly enjoyable’  Louise Candlish
‘Heart-thumping, head-scratching, nail-biting stuff’  Erin Kelly
‘Perfection’  Sophie Hannah
‘No-one does the dark distortion of good intentions like Nicci French’  Cara Hunter
‘An absolute masterclass of crime writing’  Kate Rhodes
‘As well as a fantastic mystery, Nicci French has written  a powerful, moving and wise story about the damage that loss does to families, with characters you can’t forget. I loved it’ Jo Callaghan  
 

‘One of their very best.  Compelling, moving and beautifully written  . . .    an absolute winner’  Observer
‘Classic Nicci French: an unputdownable missing-persons thriller that’s also a searing examination of family, memory and grief. A big-skied, full-blooded, broken-hearted book’ Erin Kelly

She’s loved by all who meet her. But someone wants her gone . . .

Then  

When beautiful and vivacious Charlotte Salter fails to turn up to her husband Alec’s 50th birthday party, her kids are worried, but Alec is not. As the days pass and there’s still no word from Charlie, her daughter, Etty, and her sons, Niall, Paul and Ollie, all struggle to come to terms with her disappearance.
How can anyone just vanish without a trace?
Left with no answers and in limbo, the Salter children try and go on with their lives, all the while thinking that their mother’s killer is potentially very close to home.

Now

After years away, Etty returns home to the small East Anglian village where she grew up to help move her father into a care home. Now in his eighties, Alec has dementia and often mistakes his daughter for her mother.  
Etty is a changed woman from the trouble-free girl she was when Charlie was still around – all the Salter children have spent decades running and hiding from their mother’s disappearance.
But when their childhood friends, Greg and Morgen Ackerley, decide to do a podcast about Charlotte’s disappearance, it seems like the town’s buried secrets – and the Salters’ – might finally come to light.

After all this time, will they finally find out what really happened to Charlotte Salter?

PRAISE FOR NICCI FRENCH:  

‘Fantastic – a breathless drumbeat of dread and suspense . . . no one does it better than Nicci French’  Lee Child
‘Expertly paced, psychologically sharp, thoroughly enjoyable’  Louise Candlish
‘Heart-thumping, head-scratching, nail-biting stuff’  Erin Kelly
‘Perfection’  Sophie Hannah
‘No-one does the dark distortion of good intentions like Nicci French’  Cara Hunter
‘An absolute masterclass of crime writing’  Kate Rhodes
‘As well as a fantastic mystery, Nicci French has written  a powerful, moving and wise story about the damage that loss does to families, with characters you can’t forget. I loved it’ Jo Callaghan  
 

BRINGING DANGER CLOSE TO HOME . . . THE GRIPPING NEW THRILLER FROM BESTSELLING AUTHOR NICCI FRENCH,  shortlisted for the 2023 Ned Kelly Awards for Best International Crime Fiction?  

‘Excels at depicting an ordinary life swept away by horror’ Observer
‘Fantastic – a breathless drumbeat of dread and suspense’ Lee Child
‘Heart-thumping, head-scratching, nail-biting stuff: The Favour is classic Nicci French. I read it in one breathless sitting’ Erin Kelly
 
A good deed
Can turn deadly . . .  
 
When Jude’s first love Liam turns up in her life after ten years of no contact, asking her for a favour, she just can’t say no. He will always be someone special to her.
But does she really know what she is getting herself into?

After she does the favour, Jude is contacted by the police. Liam has been found dead, and suddenly she is caught up in a murder investigation.
 
She realises this one decision could cost her everything – even her life?

PRAISE FOR NICCI FRENCH:

‘Expertly paced, psychologically sharp, thoroughly enjoyable’  Louise Candlish
‘Meticulously plotted, psychologically astute’  Sarah Vaughan
‘First-class’  Independent
‘Gripping’  Literary Review
‘A pure adrenaline rush’  Jenny Colgan

‘Excels at depicting an ordinary life swept away by horror’ Observer
‘Fantastic – a breathless drumbeat of dread and suspense’ Lee Child
‘Heart-thumping, head-scratching, nail-biting stuff: The Favour is classic Nicci French. I read it in one breathless sitting’ Erin Kelly
 
A good deed
Can turn deadly?
 
When Jude’s first love Liam turns up in her life after ten years of no contact, asking her for a favour, she just can’t say no. He will always be someone special to her.
But does she really know what she is getting herself into?

After she does the favour, Jude is contacted by the police. Liam has been found dead, and suddenly she is caught up in a murder investigation.
 
She realises this one decision could cost her everything – even her life?

 Praise for Nicci French:
‘Expertly paced, psychologically sharp, thoroughly enjoyable’  Louise Candlish
‘Meticulously plotted, psychologically astute’  Sarah Vaughan
‘First-class’  Independent
‘Gripping’  Literary Review
‘A pure adrenaline rush’  Jenny Colgan
 

‘An intense, brilliantly crafted thriller that hums with menace from start to finish’ TM Logan
 
‘He did kill. Kill and kill and kill.’
 
Tess‘s number one priority has always been her three-year-old daughter Poppy. But splitting up with Poppy’s father Jason means that she cannot always be there to keep her daughter safe.
 
When she finds a disturbing drawing, dark and menacing, among her daughter’s brightly coloured paintings, Tess is convinced that Poppy has witnessed something terrible. Something that her young mind is struggling to put into words.
 
But no one will listen. It’s only a child’s drawing, isn’t it?
 
Tess will protect Poppy, whatever the price. But when she doesn’t know what, or who, she is protecting her from, how can she possibly know who to trust . . . ?  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
Praise for Nicci French:
 
‘Expertly paced, psychologically sharp, thoroughly enjoyable’ Louise Candlish
‘Meticulously plotted, psychologically astute’ Sarah Vaughan
‘A heart-wrenchingly plausible spiral into paranoia, fear and unbearable tension. Literally pulse-pounding’ Christopher Brookmyre
‘Totally absorbing. Such great plotting and characters, but also so human and full of insights about ordinary life and relationships. That’s what always sets Nicci French’s work apart – it makes the narrative feel so real’ Sabine Durrant
‘I love Nicci French’s books, and with The Unheard they are right at the top of their game. Few crime writers can match their psychological acuity, of their ability to lead a reader through dizzying plot twists without ever losing pace. It’s an absolute masterclass of crime writing’  Kate Rhodes
‘Utterly absorbing, brilliantly plotted, twisty and original’ Rachel Abbott
‘Great writing, razor-sharp plotting, and powerful characterisation. I was 100 pages in before I even drew breath, and I defy anyone to see the ending coming’ Cara Hunter
‘It’s Nicci French perfection – which, as we all know, is the best kind of perfection. So, so gripping and brilliantly clued’ Sophie Hannah
‘What an intriguing, compelling page-turner. I ate it up in two days’ Liz Nugent
‘I love Nicci French’s books, and with The Unheard they are right at the top of their game. Few crime writers can match their psychological acuity, or their ability to lead a reader through dizzying plot twists  without ever losing pace. It’s an absolute masterclass of crime writing’ Kate Rhodes
‘The Unheard is elegant and beguiling, masterfully crafted, with an almost hallucinatory sense of jangling unease’ C. M. Ewan
‘Taut, well-paced and frighteningly familiar, I found it difficult to put down and hard to forget’ Polly Phillips
‘A mesmerising portrait of a child under stress, observed obsessively because every tiny trait is a possible clue to an important crime’ Sunday Times
‘A haunting investigation of our darkest fears’ Mail on Sunday
‘The Unheard is excellent – a breathless read brimming with misdirection and fear’  The Observer
‘fast-moving domestic thriller’  Literary Review  
‘The usual French polish from an accomplished husband-and-wife duo’  Saga
‘Husband and wife duo Nicci Gerrard and Sean French have created another enthralling, tantalisingly twisty read’  Heat

‘A novel that blissfully plays with two genres: on the one hand an against-the-odds legal thriller à la John Grisham? and on the other a Miss Marple whodunnit set in a Devon village, where the amateur sleuth is herself the prime suspect and has to conduct her investigation from jail’ Sunday Times

‘Nicci French husband-and-wife writing team responsible for some of the UK’s best psychological thrillers have created a gem of a protagonist in Tabitha, who sets out to investigate what happened to herself, from prison? House of Correction allows the readers to puzzle out what happened alongside Tabitha, while cheering her effort’ Observer

‘First-class’ Independent

‘The husband-and-wife team of Nicci Gerrard and Sean French? have taken the ingredients of the classic village mystery and transformed them into something up to date and gripping’ Literary Review

‘Gritty and moving – the husband-and-wife team have scored another hit’ Best

‘A twisty and shocking read’ Bella

‘Engrossing? In this clever courtroom drama, Tabitha is on trial for the murder of a neighbour. The evidence against her is strong and due to the medication she takes, she has virtually no memory of what happened, but she’s sure she’s innocent and has to build a case to clear her name’ Good Housekeeping

‘I wanted everything to stop so I could read this book, there was something that grabbed me from the opening? This is a clever, well-crafted novel with twists and turns right until the end? Definitely a favourite read of mine for 2020’ Woman’s Way (Ireland)

‘Describing it as a suspenseful prison thriller, or riveting courtroom drama doesn’t do this meticulously written detective novel justice? As well as its finely drawn characters and clever storyline, this is a novel that provokes you into pondering the workings of the wider justice system, police methods and prison life’ Bookanista

‘Great writing, razor-sharp plotting, and powerful characterisation. I was 100 pages in before I even drew breath, and I defy anyone to see the ending coming’ Cara Hunter

‘Part ingenious locked-room mystery. Part you’ve-got-the-wrong-person nightmare drama. Part intricate memory game. Yet all seamlessly woven together. French’s best book yet’ A J Finn

‘Clever, compelling, original and twisty. This unputdownable David-and-Goliath story has the flawed, funny, totally unforgettable Tabitha at its heart and I read until the early hours, desperate to know her fate’ Erin Kelly