The Blank Wall

From the moment Lucia Holley finds a dead body in the family boathouse, she knows no peace. Set on the outskirts of New York during World War II, The Blank Wall is a psychological suspense novel which traces an increasingly chaotic chain of events as Lucia endeavours to protect herself and her family.

Lucia had forbidden her teenage daughter Bee from meeting Ted Darby, the unsavoury older man who now lies sprawled and lifeless before her. To Lucia’s horror, after she moves the body, two strangers arrive at her home in quick succession. They both threaten blackmail, insinuating she knows about Darby’s disappearance. The county police also begin investigating Darby’s unexplained death.

Every evening, as Lucia writes to her husband away at sea, she finds herself relating niceties, omitting the truth about the net rapidly closing in on her household. Aided by her trusted maid Sybil, Lucia fends off inquiries from police lieutenant Levy and curious neighbours alike. When one of the blackmailers begins to soften and takes Lucia’s side, her family immediately grow suspicious, and Lucia is in even greater danger than before.

First published in 1947, The Blank Wall is part of the Persephone Audiobook Collection, a series of forgotten classics including neglected fiction and non-fiction by women writers.