Spider: Every marriage has a secret

(Paperback, 0th New edition)

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When her missing husband is found dead in a car crash far from home, a charismatic actress must find out the truth in this utterly fresh take on the domestic suspense novel. Sophie is an aspiring British Pakistani actress whose only claim to fame - despite her vast and unscrupulous ambitions - is the unplanned on-camera birth of her son, a clip which has become something of a cult favourite on the Indian B movie scene. Her husband, Tariq, is a pillar of Bradford's Muslim community and her perfect match, until his sudden disappearance under mysterious circumstances. When a body is found, presumed to be his, but disfigured in a way that makes identification difficult, Sophie is distraught. Tariq was her 'third time lucky husband'. Her first, Amir, came out of a childhood sweetheart relationship that couldn't last, and her rebound marriage to doting Faraz, a recent immigrant to the UK and obsessed with the Royal Family, was even shorter lived. Is Sophie just luckless or is there more to her than meets the eye And maybe, just maybe, one of her exes has something to do with Tariq's untimely death. Might one of them be responsible for the threatening letters Sophie herself is guilty of something, but is murder part of her ambition In Sophie, Dar has created a flawed yet hypnotising female lead- a cunning, narcissistic character for fans of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl and Oyinkan Braithwaite's My Sister the Serial Killer. It is just a matter of time before her intricate web of lies begins to draw tighter.

Reviews

"A well-written and engaging story of domestic suspense with a difference, set in the Muslim community of West Yorkshire. Multiple viewpoints are juggled skilfully to deliver a real page-turner."
Martin Edwards, author of Gallows Court

"Azma Dar makes a thrilling debut with this time-switching, head-hopping crime story that is rich with spice and authentic detail."
Ashok Banker, author of A Kiss After Dying

"Highly recommendable, especially to fans of Gillian Flynn, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, J.T. Ellison, and Gilly Macmillan."
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Author Bio

Azma Dar is an author and playwright. She has written three full-length theatre productions, several short plays, a radio play for BBC Asian Network and has a forthcoming play entitled NOOR at Southwark Playhouse in November 2022. Her debut novel, The Secret Arts, was published by Dean Street Press in 2015.