One Puzzling Afternoon

A heartbreaking, captivating mystery for fans of The List of Suspicious Things

Emily Critchley author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Bonnier Books Ltd

Published:25th May '23

Should be back in stock very soon

One Puzzling Afternoon cover

A captivating mystery perfect for fans of The List of Suspicious Things and Elizabeth is Missing.

On a suburban street filled with secrets, 82 year old Edie Green must look back into the past to discover what happened to her friend Lucy, who went missing years before .

A captivating mystery perfect for fans of The List of Suspicious Things and Elizabeth is Missing.

On a suburban street filled with secrets, 82 year old Edie Green must look back into the past to discover what happened to her friend Lucy, who went missing years before . . .


*Selected as an Indie Book of the Month*

It is 1951, and at number six Sycamore Street fifteen-year-old Edie Green is lonely. Living alone with her eccentric mother - who conducts seances for the local Ludthorpe community - she is desperate for something to shake her from her dull, isolated life.

When the popular, pretty Lucy Theddle befriends Edie, she thinks all her troubles are over. But Lucy has a secret, one Edie is not certain she should keep . . .

Then Lucy goes missing.

2018. Edie is eighty-two and still living in Ludthorpe. When one day she glimpses Lucy Theddle, still looking the same as she did at fifteen, her family write it off as one of her many mix ups. There's a lot Edie gets confused about these days. A lot she finds difficult to remember. But what she does know is this: she must find out what happened to Lucy, all those years ago . . .

'A captivating and poignant book, I was completely hooked. You can't help but fall for Edie' Marianne Cronin, author of 100 Years of Lenni and Margot

'This is such a delicate web of a book, a mystery deftly woven with tension and compassion. Edie is a heartbreaking figure, struggling to catch her last memories before they're blown away forever - her quest/plight is absorbing and extremely poignant' Beth Morrey, author of Saving Missy

'Completely captivating. A real page-turner' Louise Hare


'Marvellous . . . a special gem of a book, a perfectly executed double timeline mystery with a twist you don't see coming' Inga Vesper, author...

Beguiling . . . Beautifully written, this dual-timeline mystery draws you in and keeps a tight hold. * Heat Magazine *
Gripping . . . heartbreaking. * Fabulous magazine, The Sun *
Full of depth and humanity, One Puzzling Afternoon is a beautifully written novel that really tugs at the heartstrings. * Culture Fly *
A captivating and poignant book, I was completely hooked. You can't help but fall for Edie. * Marianne Cronin, author of 100 Years of Lenni and Margot *
Completely captivating. A real page turner. Eighty-two year old Edie is a wonderful protagonist, desperate to solve the mystery of her friend's disappearance sixty years earlier. * Louise Hare *

ISBN: 9781804181256

Dimensions: 241mm x 164mm x 37mm

Weight: 586g

400 pages