More Praise for Susan Hill's THE RISK OF DARKNESS

"Fans of the new breed of British psychological mysteries, a sub-genre that has been led for years now by Elizabeth George and P.D. James, will be thrilled to know there’s a new series to add to their reading lists: Susan Hill’s Simon Serrailler books. The Risk of Darkness is Detective Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler’s third literary excursion and it is a doozy. If you’re looking for a sleepy Sunday read, this is not it. This book is a tense, surprise-packed, complex, modern mystery masterpiece. DCI Serrailler is asked to assist in the investigation of a missing 8 year-old boy, a case very similar to one he had run into a dead-end on months before. When the unlikely culprit is caught, a number of lives are affected. This main plot is interwoven with that of Serrailler’s physician sister, Cat Deerborn, and a distraught young husband under her care. Like the best modern mystery writers, Ms. Hill doesn’t tie off every loose end—as in real life, questions stay unanswered and lives are left in unresolved shreds. Unaccustomed readers may be disconcerted by this; however, if this type of tale is your cup of tea, get ready to pour, drink, and enjoy." - Michelle Kerns, Sacramento Book Review

Starred Review in Booklist for THE RISK OF DARKNESS by Susan Hill

Susan Hill's third mystery novel featuring Simon Serrailler and the English cathedral town of Lafferton, The Risk of Darkness, gets a starred review in the current issue of Booklist: "Hill is a prolific and gifted writer who has tackled multiple genres, but she may do her best work in crime fiction, as illustrated by her gripping series featuring Detective Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler. In his latest outing, the enigmatic Serrailler faces his most challenging case yet when a young boy is kidnapped while waiting for the school bus. It’s as if the boy has vanished from the face of the earth – no one saw him being abducted, there are no clues, and eight months later, the case is still unsolved. Then another child vanishes in similar circumstances. But this time there is a witness who not only sees the make of the kidnapper’s car but also catches part of the license-plate number. As if the main story line isn’t gripping enough, Hill adds several riveting subplots that, rather than detracting from the main story, add to it. This is an outstanding crime thriller from one of Britain’s best writers. Taut, inventive, tragic, intriguing, and full of unexpected twists, it’s a must-have for all mystery collections.” – Emily Melton (starred review)

Susan Hill's THE MAN IN THE PICTURE in Los Angeles Times

Nick Owchar's "Siren's Call" column in The Los Angeles Times features the unlikely pairing of Susan Hill, author of The Man in the Picture and the forthcomimg The Risk of Darkness and the great H.P. Lovecraft. Looking at Hill's rceent ghost story The Man in the Picture, Owchar asserts: "Hill's story is a clear descendant of Henry James' ghost stories and their familiar elements -- the narrator with an odd tale to tell, the English infatuation with Italy, even the hearth fire -- without feeling derivative; and the use of so many hoary, gothic cliches (a hidden painting whose image alters under a supernatural hand) is a cross between "Dorian Gray" and "The Twilight Zone."And yet the terrain feels fresh and all Hill's own. . . Hill is a successful mystery writer living in England who also owns a small publishing house. A writer noted for her psychological detective stories -- The Risk of Darkness, featuring inspector Simon Serrailler, will be published next month -- she seems the model of that writer who has a serene, bookish, rustic life (she and her Shakespeare scholar husband live in the North Cotswold countryside) while her prose is full of violent, unsettled passions and disturbing situations."

Stocking Stuffers for the Literati: Susan Hill's THE MAN IN THE PICTURE

The Richmond Times-Dispatch has a great idea for a Christmas stocking stuffer: "Susan Hill knows how to tell a ghost story, and The Man in the Picture is a stylish little gem that's creative in conception and traditional in execution. Hill masterfully builds the dread as she lays out the story, but she never oversteps the bounds of edginess into excess. With a refined touch that other authors should envy, she makes this elegant story sing by melding the ethos of the traditional ghost story with the assurance of a contemporary prose artist."

THE MAN IN THE PICTURE: Halloween Treat from British Master Susan Hill

Jay Strafford of the Richmond Times-Dispatch gives a rave review to Susan Hill's ghost story, The Man in the Picture: "Think The Picture of Dorian Gray was scary? As the paranormalist said to the ghost-hunter, you ain't seen nothing yet. Just in time for Halloween, prolific British author Susan Hill bestows upon readers a slim but weighty ghost story, The Man in the Picture. And Hill knows the genre: Her "The Woman in Black" was adapted for theater and has been playing for 18 years in London's West End. Her current outing begins one cold January night in Cambridge, where a former student has gone to visit his old tutor, Theo Parmitter. Theo, an expert in Chaucer and a lover of art, counts among his prized possessions an oil painting of a Venetian carnival scene he acquired as a young man. Now elderly, he unburdens himself to his former student about the painting. One acquaintance, Theo says, studied the picture and saw the face of an old friend. Theo himself began having nightmares, followed by long periods of calm. But then came a magazine article about Theo's Chaucer scholarship, accompanied by a photo that, strangely, focuses more on the painting than on Theo. Within days, Theo receives a letter from the secretary to the Countess of Hawdon, imploring him to visit Yorkshire and listen to her ladyship's story about the painting. Visit he does, listen he does, and... But why spoil this elegant little book for you? And stylish it is. Hill's prose is understated but evocative, as in this passage about Theo: "He spoke lightly, of a jaunt to the north. But a haunted and troubled look had settled on his features that belied the conscious cheerfulness of his words." Dickens would have been hard-pressed to put it better. Hill masterfully builds the dread as she lays out the story, but she never oversteps the bounds of edginess into excess. With a refined touch that other authors should envy, she makes The Man in the Picture sing by melding the ethos of the traditional ghost story with the assurance of a contemporary prose artist. So grab a throw and light the light — you'll be up late tonight. "

High Praise for Susan Hill's THE MAN IN THE PICTURE in Rocky Mountain News

The Man in the Picture: A Ghost Story by Susan Hill receives a "A" grade from Mark Graham of the Rocky Mountain News in Colorado: "Hill's tightly woven spectral novella begins in traditional ghost-story style as horrors are revealed to an unfortunate narrator. Just listen to the first line: "The story was told to me by my old tutor, Theo Parmitter, as we sat beside the fire in his college rooms one bitterly cold January night." You know that nothing good can follow. In his younger days, Parmitter bought a painting of masked revelers near one of Venice's canals. To the Cambridge don, the picture appears to contain faces of people in the throes of terror, people who don't want to be in it. The story he tells his former student reveals the painting's curse and threatens the existence of both of them. Final word: This exquisite little tale should remind readers of great writers in the genre, such as Dickens, Poe and Peter Straub. Don't miss it."

Susan Hill's THE MAN IN THE PICTURE On Sale Today

From the renowned storyteller Susan Hill—whose first ghost story, The Woman in Black, has run for eighteen years as a play in London’s West End—has returned to a form that is fully classical and, in Hill’s able hands, newly vital. The Man in the Picture is a haunting tale of loss, love, and the very basest fear of our beings.

"A real treat for fans of a true, elegant ghost story, this slim novella is as accomplished a chiller as you would expect from the author of The Woman in Black. Told second-hand, as is traditional, alongside a scotch, a glowing log fire and a crackle of menace, it relates the history of a sinister painting and a figure in it who looks out at the viewer "with what I can only describe as pleading." This is chilling stuff – so make sure there's someone else in the room before you come to the end." - Independent

Check out the book trailer on You Tube!

THE MAN IN THE PICTURE: A Ghost Story from Susan Hill

Susan Hill, author two recent mystery novels from Overlook, The Various Haunts of Men and The Pure in Heart, returns this Fall with her acclaimed ghost story, The Man in the Picture.
Susan Hill's first ghost story, The Woman in Black, has run for eighteen years as a play in London's West End. The Man in the Picture, according to The Times, "unfolds at a thriller's pace with a setting that is reassuringly contemporary. In the capable hands of Susan Hill, the Gothic novel. that venerable but undeniably pensionable genre, finds a new lease on life." The Man in the Picture will be published in October 2008.

Susan Hill's THE VARIOUS HAUNTS OF MEN Now Available in Paperback

New in paperback this month is Susan Hill's The Various Haunts of Men, introducing readers the enigmatic detective Simon Serrailer and the cathedral town of Lafferton. Rich in psychological complexity, The Various Haunts of Men has drawn comparisons to the best works of Ruth Rendell and P.D. James. The sequel, The Pure in Heart, was released last year, and Overlook will publish Susan Hill's beloved ghost story, The Man in the Picture, in October 2008.