A Fragment Of Fear

FROM THE INTRODUCTION BY JOHN LE CARRÉ

"This novel comprises some of the best work of an extremely gifted and

perhaps under-regarded British crime novelist.... What gave John Bingham

his magic was something we look for in every writer, too often in vain: an

absolute command of the internal landscape of his characters, acutely

observed by a humane but wonderfully corrosive eye."

"On a recuperative trip in Italy after a car accident, reporter and

novelist James Compton is witness to the discovery of a murder victim, a

woman who had been vacationing at the same hotel. Lucy Dawson seemed like

a gentle old lady, and so the motive for her death appeared to be

unmeditated assault. But when he returns to England and makes a benign

inquiry into her background, Compton receives a note warning him to leave

the past alone -- a note clearly written on his own typewriter, though his

apartment shows no sign of a break-in.

Unable to resist pursuing the unfinished story, Compton's own investigation

reveals a sinister side to Lucy Dawson and a cold-blooded conspiracy she

may have helped to perpetrate while alive. Suddenly Compton finds a

dangerous net closing in around him: threatening phone calls, terrifying

invasions of privacy, and no way of proving to the police that anyone is

responsible but himself.

In the tradition of Agatha Christie and Patricia Highsmith, John Bingham's

writing has earned him a place amongst the great suspense writers of the

twentieth century. With taut, compelling prose, "A Fragment of Fear"

is a captivating thriller by a master storyteller at the height of his

powers.