From Queen of Suspense Mary Higgins Clark, a thriller “that grabs you with the first paragraph and never let’s go” (USA TODAY) about a woman desperate to uncover the truth behind her beloved stepmother’s death. At a party in Manhattan, Maggie Holloway—one of the fashion world’s most successful photographers—is thrilled to be reunited with her beloved stepmother. A widow now, Nuala Moore is equally delighted to see her long-lost stepdaughter, and she invites Maggie to spend a few weeks at her home in Newport, Rhode Island. But when Maggie arrives, she finds Nuala murdered, apparently by a burglar. Heartbroken, Maggie is stunned to learn she had inherited Nuala’s stunning Victorian home...and horrified when she begins to suspect that Nuala’s death was not random but part of a diabolical plot conceived by a twisted mind. When Nuala’s dear old friend, Greta Shipley, dies suddenly of supposedly natural causes, Maggie is convinced that there is a link between these two and other recent deaths among the older women of Newport. What she doesn’t realize is that she has now become a target for the killer as well, and that each clue she uncovers brings her closer to an unimaginable fate.

サスペンスの女王メアリー・ヒギンズ・クラークの真髄は、日常の亀裂に潜む「底知れぬ悪意」の描き方にあります。優雅なニューポートを舞台に、高齢者の孤独を食い物にする狂気を浮き彫りにした文学的深みこそが本作の魅力です。美しい情景と対比される醜悪な陰謀が、読者の道徳観を激しく揺さぶります。 映像化作品では絢爛な邸宅が視覚的恐怖を煽りますが、原作テキストが放つ心理的圧迫感は別格です。クラーク特有の「一歩ずつ追い詰められる」焦燥感は、文字を通じて読者の心拍を直接揺さぶります。贅沢な舞台設定と、そこから乖離したおぞましい運命が織りなす極上の不協和音を、ぜひ活字と映像の両面から五感で堪能してください。