The Strangers in the House

Dirty, drunk, unloved, and unloving, Hector Loursat has been a bitter recluse for eighteen long years - ever since his wife abandoned him and their newborn child to run off with another man. Once a successful lawyer, Loursat now guzzles burgundy and buries himself in books, taking little notice of his teenage daughter or the odd things going on in his vast and ever-more-dilapidated mansion. But one night the sound of a gunshot penetrates the padded walls of Loursat's study, and he is forced to investigate. What he stumbles on is a murder.
Soon Loursat discovers that his daughter and her friends have been leading a dangerous secret life. He finds himself strangely drawn to this group of young people, and when one of them is accused of the murder, he astonishes the world by taking up the young man's defense.

Georges Simenon (1903—1989) emerged as a writer in the 1930s, gaining renown for his detective stories featuring Inspector Maigret. He is no less famous for his psychological novels. New York Review Books has published revised translations of Simenon's most acclaimed romans durs, including Dirty Snow, Three Bedrooms in Manhattan, The Man Who Watched Trains Go By, Monsieur Monde Vanishes, Tropic Moon, and most recently, Red Lights.

P.D. James is the author of eighteen books. She served in the forensics and criminal justice departments of Great Britain’s Home Office, and she has been a magistrate and a governor of the BBC. In 2000 she published her autobiography, Time to Be in Earnest.