Minette Walters: The Ice House (used)

The Ice House (1992) is the first crime novel by English writer Minette Walters. The story was the recipient of a John Creasey award for best debut. Mrs Phoebe Maybury, a widow in her late thirties, lives in Streech Grange with her two companions Diana and Anne. One day her servant Fred finds a rotting corpse in their ice house, a storage room inside a hillock that hasn't been used for years. DCI George Walsh thinks it may be the corpse of Phoebe's husband David, who went missing ten years ago. Back then, Walsh suspected her of killing her husband, but this was never proven. Inhabitants of the village believe that the three women are lesbians, and that Phoebe did not only kill her husband but also her parents. They died in a car crash after garage owner KC neglected to check their brakes. One of the villagers, Dily Barnes, has forbidden her children Peter and Emma to play with Phoebe's children Jonathan and Jane. The grounds are searched and the three women and Phoebe's grown-up children are questioned. Jane used to have anorexia nervosa and underwent psychotherapy. DS Andy McLoughlin, whose wife has just left him for another police officer, gets romantically involved with Anne and believes the three women are innocent.