The Twilight Hour
LONDON 1947
It’s freezing winter in the shabby, bomb-damaged city. Young socialite Dinah Wentworth, a bright, innocent newcomer to the Fitzrovia scene, becomes embroiled in a dark scandal when she discovers the corpse of surrealist artist Titus Mavor.
Not wanting to explain her reasons for being at Mavor’s flat that evening, she decides against reporting her grim discovery to the police. But her silence has terrible consequences. Her husband’s friend, Colin Harris, is linked to the crime and arrested on suspicion of murder. Dinah realises someone is trying to frame him and knows she must uncover the real villain before Harris is hanged.
Set against the background of the Cold War, post-war shortages, and the struggling British film industry, Elizabeth Wilson’s elegant noir vividly evokes the fashions and politics of a bohemian community flourishing in defiance of austerity. The Twilight Hour is a riveting thriller with a corkscrew twist.
REVIEWS
‘The writing is good and the scene setting fascinating.’
Literary Review‘a well crafted, atmospheric and subtly feminist murder mystery … both pacy and packed with incident.’
Bob Cornwell, Tangled Web‘A quirky whodunnit that will send shivers down your spine and a gripping evocation of an icy time.’
Zoe Fairbairns, Independent‘an elegantly nostalgic, noir thriller; brilliantly conjures up the rackety confusion of Cold War London.’
Daily Mail‘an atmospheric book in which foggy, half-ruined London is as much a character as the artists and good-time girls who wander through its pages. It would be selfish to hope for more thrillers from Wilson, who has other fish to fry, but The Twilight Hour is so good that such selfishness is inevitable.’
Roz Kaveney, Time Out
