Naked Slaughter: lock and bolt all doors
Upper Slaughter is a quintessential English village, yet underneath the cosy veneer of small village life lurk many festering secrets. Enchanted by the village and its surrounds, Sarah and Phillip move into Primrose Cottage with great expectations. However, paths cross, fates twist, misunderstandings occur and the one issue that exists between Sarah and Phillip rears up, causing fissures in their marriage. Phillip thinks Sarah has left him, Sarah thinks a sexual deviant has kidnapped her, and a very close friend with lesbian tendencies uses this opportunity to play the seductive predator. In the shadows of this previously idyllic setting, one man, a loner, seems to be in control of everyone’s destiny except his own. Despite the beauty of their new home, the journey for Sarah and Phillip is fraught with danger, anguish, and betrayal. Naked Slaughter is a noir mystery exposing the sinister side of humanity and the wavering flame of love's pallid candle.
The Story Behind This Book
I would like to dedicate this novel to the residents of Upper Slaughter in Gloucestershire, England. I have visited their village on numerous occasions, but my very first visit sowed the seeds for the novel. I stopped by the ford and the stone footbridge over the River Eye and looked up Church Lane. In my mind I saw Michael Griffiths going to post a letter for his mother and I saw Sarah and Phillip Preston looking longingly at Primrose Cottage. To protect the anonymity of the residents of the village I have added some artistic licence by creating Primrose Cottage, Clifton House and other homes from my imagination, and Cress Coppice and its surrounding area has become Copper’s Ridge. The residents and visitors to the village are assured that all characters in this novel are fictitious.
