The Key In The Lock

'Haunting, vivid and urgent. The Key in the Lock demands to be devoured whole' - Stacey Halls
'Intriguing, beguiling and surprising until the very end - I was transfixed' - Claire Fuller
'Absorbing, beautifully written . . . Everything I enjoy in a gothic mystery' - Rosie Andrews
'Dark, clever and utterly enthralling' Elizabeth Macneal

'I still dream, every night, of Polneath on fire...'

By day, Ivy Boscawen mourns the loss of her son Tim in the Great War. But by night she mourns another boy - one whose death decades ago haunts her still.

For Ivy is sure that there is more to what happened all those years ago: the fire at the Great House, and the terrible events that came after. A truth she must uncover, if she is ever to be free.

From the award-winning author of The Witchfinder's Sister comes a captivating story of burning secrets and buried shame, and of the loyalty and love that rises from the ashes.


'Brilliantly twisty, dripping with mystery and utterly heartbreaking' - Emily Koch, author of Keep Him Close

'A gothic mystery of the highest order. Chilling, sad, beautiful, and so elegantly conjured, it's a story that summons du Maurier but retains ghosts all its own. I raced through it, my heart in my mouth. Superb' Emma Stonex, author of The Lamplighters

'The perfect gothic novel' Stuart Turton

'Deliciously intriguing from the very first sentence, with shades of du Maurier and Dunmore. I was hooked by this exquisitely written tale of secrets and lies' Sara Collins, author of The Confessions of Frannie Langton

'Captivating and elegant and undoubtedly a future classic' - Lucie McKnight Hardy, author of Water Shall Refuse Them

'The perfect read for an autumnal weekend. Atmospheric and rich with evocative detail, I found myself in tears by the end' Harriet Tyce, author of Blood Orange

'A Cornish landscape evocative of Daphne du Maurier . . . brilliantly plotted' - Louise Hare, author of This Lovely City

'The Key in the Lock will enthral fans of The Witchfinder's Sister. A brooding Cornish tale of a grieving mother obsessively unpicking the lies around the death of the child of the man she secretly loves, it'll also recruit fans of Du Maurier & Waters' - Patrick Gale, author of A Place Called Winter

'I was captivated by the characters, the story and the sinuous, seamless plotting' - Sarah Hilary, author of Fragile

'Absorbing, beautifully written . . . Everything I enjoy in a gothic mystery' - Rosie Andrews, author of The Leviathan

'A masterclass in atmosphere... haunting, vivid and urgent. The Key in the Lock demands to be devoured whole' - Stacey Halls, author of Mrs England

'A beautifully observed novel. Intriguing, beguiling and surprising until the very end - I was transfixed and moved by Underdown's storytelling' - Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground