The Long Shadow by Celia Fremlin

The Long Shadow is certainly a Christmas story with a difference. It is a genuinely chilling psychological thriller that will have you shivering as you read it and not because it is set around Christmas. 

 

When Imogen is awoken by and answers the ringing telephone in a dark and empty house she does not expect to be accused of murdering her husband by a man she met at a party who is on the other end of the phone.  But she is and as she tries to cope with guests arriving in her home for the Christmas festivities strange things are taking place. Who put the half bottle of whiskey beside Ivor’s favourite chair and why does it appear that someone has been going through his papers as well.?  More importantly why is this man continuing to phone and insist that Imogen is guilty of killing her husband? As Imogen grapples with her house being filled with her husband’s relatives over the festive period she is also finds herself questioning not only her own sanity but her relationship with her husband.  Did she really know him?

 

Faber & Faber are as part of their Faber Classic Crime for 2018 re-issuing Celia Fremlin’s The Long Shadow which was originally published in 1975. It is a shame that she is not as well-known as she should be as she certainly knows how to write chilling story that leaves you with an incredibly creepy feeling and The Long Shadow is certainly a Christmas mystery with a twist.  It is a fascinating and intense story with a plot that that leaves you with the feeling that a lot has been hidden by many the characters. There is also a sense of claustrophobia that that surrounds everyone and everything.  It is also an insightful study of human behaviour, sorrow, avarice, reprisal and narcissism by all.

 

I admit that reading it now does on the one hand show how dated it is but, this does not take away from the fact that The Long Shadow is domestic noir at its finest and Celia Fremlin certainly knows how to show a reader the darker side of an ordinary domestic setting. As psychological thrillers go The Long Shadow is incredibly atmospheric a riveting read and just as relevant today as when it was first published.   One does not have to wait until Christmas to read this stylishly written thriller.