Jim Cutter, his wife and son are appalled when their neighbours, the Langleys, are murdered. Their town in upstate New York is a sleepy place, famous only for its annual literary festival, which attracts the brightest stars in the US. Most notorious among them is Conrad Chase, president of the town’s college, who ten years earlier published a scandalous novel, yet proved reluctant to write another. Piece by piece, evidence mounts to suggest he had a motive to kill the Langleys: a computer has disappeared from their home, which contained the manuscript of an early version of his novel. It originally belonged to a local boy who, more than a decade earlier, supposedly committed suicide. Jim Cutter suspects the worst of Chase, but when his own life is threatened, realises that the case is more complicated than he thought – and that its motive has nothing to do with mere literary scandals.

With its subtle hint that the cult of the author isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be, Too Close to Home is a timely and clever read, that pokes fun at some of the literary world’s most cherished institutions.