Safe as Houses

About

A young couple install an elaborate high-tech baby monitor, only to discover it immediately turns everything in their home into a security threat...

A woman is found dead in her house, half-drowned under parcels and online purchases; but the deliveries keep on coming...

A discovery of human teeth in an old dress in a never-visited part of an old mansion leads to a terrifying revelation...

Bungalows, semi-detacheds, sprawling country piles, whatever ‘home’ means to most of us, it also means ‘safe’. This is clearly not the case, however, in Christine Poulson’s much-anticipated debut collection. With each story, the reader may be rooted in a seemingly stable domestic space, yet they’re never more than a few steps away from something altogether more unsettling, even malevolent. Whether it’s the putative safety of a country cottage, or the sprawling luxury of an old manor house, Poulson deftly dismantles the trust we invest in those places typically associated with sanctuary. A stark warning against the complacency of our daily routines, these chilling stories showcase a writer at the very peak of her powers. 

Press

‘Poulson's incisive stories are always devious, intriguing, twisty and compelling. No one has such a mastery of the short mystery format.”  – Maxim Jakubowski

'Christine is one of my favourite writers of contemporary crime short stories, and this inventive and eclectic collection illustrates splendidly the range of her talents.’ – Martin Edwards

‘Poulson is a mistress of the short story - always original and always enjoyable.’ – Kate Ellis

‘Unrivalled as a writer of scientific mysteries combining elements of both the thriller and the whodunnit’ – The Morning Star

‘A master of the medical mystery’ – Jake Kerridge, Sunday Express