The Pursued

Book excerpt: 'A wonderful, almost miraculous discovery by the unsung godfather of English noir' Andrew Taylor 'The light revealed the kitchen with its blue and white paper; and it revealed, too, Dot in her pretty summer frock lying on the floor with her head inside the open gas oven' Marjorie had never seen a dead person until she got home one tranquil summer evening and found her sister's body. She looked peaceful, as if she was asleep. Their mother suspects, however, that Dot's death was far from natural. What's more, she's convinced she knows who the killer is. Slowly and meticulously, she plots her revenge. After all, who would suspect a neatly dressed, grey-haired widow of anything? C. S. Forester's 1935 thriller The Pursuedrewrote the traditions of crime fiction to create a dark, twisted psychological portrayal of obsession and retribution, but its typescript manuscript was lost. Now, more than seven decades later, it has been rediscovered and is published for the first time.