Borrowed Time

First published in the UK in 1995, this psychological mystery/thriller has a plot that springs from the chance encounter between English businessman Robin Timariot and Lady Louise Paxton, who meet briefly while hiking near Wales. Hours later, Paxton is found raped and strangled in a nearby cottage. Over the proceeding months and years, Timariot watches as a drifter is convicted of the murder and the Paxton family disintegrates into rivalries, suicides and tensions owing to the crime. Meanwhile, Timariot, heir to a cricket bat manufacturing company, must navigate his own family squabbles, fueled in part by the company's lagging position in the marketplace. As with many of his novels, Goddard's plotting is a smooth mix of secrets, deceits and slowly unfolding horrors.