Claire Douglas’s newest novel, “The Family Friend,” features Imogen Cooke, a television journalist whose career has been derailed. While pursuing a lead tied to a fraud investigation, her zeal took her a little too far, and she was caught breaking the law. Her livelihood is on shaky ground, and she’s having to rely on her long-term partner, Josh, for support.
Josh is an engineer with a steady career, and their relationship is loving and stable. Her older sister Alison has dubbed him “Steady Eddie.” Imogen is drawn to his stability, considering that her chaotic and abusive father is currently serving a life sentence for murdering her mother.
Prior to her mother’s death, the two briefly stayed at the home of Dorothea Roe, a reclusive yet famous artist known for her macabre sculptures. Her mother had worked as Dorothea’s cleaner for years, and Imogen, then 14, remembered that time as one of her happiest. But her mother returned to her husband and died shortly thereafter. After that, Imogen lost contact with Dorothea.
So imagine Imogen’s surprise when she receives a letter from a solicitor that lets her know she’s inherited Dorothea’s sprawling property in Bath, UK. It’s like a dream come true for her and Josh. However, there are some catches to the deal they couldn’t possibly predict.
Murder or Mishap?
Dorothea’s death was reported as accidental in the press. She supposedly fell down her stairs while trying to escape a fire in her villa, but it may not be the truth. Detective Inspector Erica Shirley shows up and explains there are indications that the reclusive artist might have been murdered. DI Shirley was also one of the officers who originally investigated Imogen’s mother’s death—an odd coincidence.
Imogen is shocked, but also realizes that she and Josh have suddenly become suspects in her murder. Even though Dorothea didn’t have any immediate family, it’s unusual that she should leave her estate to someone she barely knew many years before. Neighbors in the area are also perplexed by the decision and view the couple with suspicion.
The inheritance creates some tension between Imogen and Alison. When their mother died, Alison took her little sister in and helped raise her. True, she hardly had any contact with the artist, but Imogen can tell that Alison has more than a little envy about her windfall.
Then, mysterious and sinister events begin to occur at the villa. Someone might be watching the house, maybe even skulking around the property. Imogen finds strange notes and objects among Dorothea’s belongings. She wonders if the woman might have left clues for her, an investigative reporter, to dig into.
The whole mystery might hinge on Dorothea’s last work in progress: seven sculptures around the theme of magpies and the old nursery rhyme: “One for sorrow, Two for joy” and ending with “Seven for a secret never to be told.” Just what clue does the seventh sculpture hold? And is the secret worth killing for?
A Competent Formula
The story is told from alternating viewpoints, mostly between Imogen and Alison. Interspersed are flashbacks that illuminate key moments from Dorothea’s life. It all serves the mystery well enough, though Douglas hasn’t invested much in her characters beyond the mechanics of plot.
Josh is the most telling example: He’s less a fully realized person than a collection of odd behaviors at odd moments that don’t make much sense until the climax, and then his quirks seem a little contrived.
The plot is tailor-made for modern pop fiction: a mysterious inheritance, domestic violence, secret clues buried within a series of creepy sculptures. But Douglas never commits fully to any single theme, circling back repeatedly to abusive husbands, a preoccupation that has lately become a very common fiction device.
That said, she does manage to conclude with a mildly creative take on domestic violence tropes. She might also have been avoiding an obvious solution and felt the need for a clever twist.
Audiobook Prose
Douglas’s prose has a clinical quality—this happens, then this, then this—and her blunt present-tense style keeps the reader somewhat removed. You observe events rather than inhabit them, watching events unfold from a distance rather than being dropped into the action.
This might be a strategic choice, as an audiobook performance might be able to suggest depths that aren’t on the page, filling gaps with tone, timing, and inflection without having to add more descriptives to the dialogue. It’s hard not to imagine that “The Family Friend” was conceived with this format primarily in mind.
As a reading experience, the novel is formulaic, occasionally drifting into melodrama. That said, it’s a formula with genuine appeal. Readers in search of a diverting thriller with familiar pleasures—a haunted inheritance, family secrets, the slow tightening of dread—will find what they came for.
With “The Family Friend,” Douglas delivers on the promise of the premise, even when the execution doesn’t quite match its ambition.
‘The Family Friend’
By Claire Douglas
Michael Joseph: March 12, 2026
Hardcover, 400 pages
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