The Judgment of Strangers

"It is 1970. David Byfield, a widowed parish priest with a dark past and a darker future, brings home a new wife to Roth. Blinded by lust, Byfield is oblivious to the dangers that lie all about him, the menopausal churchwarden with a hopeless passion for her priest; his beautiful, neglected teenage daughter Rosemary; and the sinister presence of Frances Youlgreave, poet, opium addict, and suicide, whose power stretches beyond the grave. Soon the murders and blasphemies begin. But does the responsibility lie in the present or the past? And can Byfield, a prisoner of his own passion, break through to the truth before the final tragedy destroys what he most cherishes? The Judgement of strangers is the second novel in Andrew Taylor's Roth Trilogy, linked psychological thrillers that strip away, like an archaeological dig, the layers of a psychopath's history"--P. [4] of cover.

Andrew Taylor is the author of many crime and suspense novels. The recipient of the Crime Writers' Association 2009 Cartier Diamond Dagger for sustained excellence in crime writing, Taylor has also won the CWA's John Creasey Award, an Edgar Scroll from the Mystery Writers of America, an Audie, and two CWA's Ellis Peters Historical Daggers (a unique achievement), as well as a shortlisting for the CWA's Gold Dagger. His website is www.andrew-taylor.co.uk.