The Spiral Staircase

A chilling classic thriller from the 1930s in which a young woman is stalked about an isolated country house by a murderer. __________ '[An] astonishing and diabolical shock... Required reading' New York Herald Tribune 'Adept at laying one icy finger on the back of your neck' Spectator __________ Everyone is talking about it: a serial killer on the loose. Women are being slain across the countryside surrounding the isolated Warren mansion where Helen has taken up a domestic position. And each murder is closer to the house than the last... When the body of a local girl is discovered in the nearby village. Professor Warren orders the mansion be locked up overnight for the residents' safety. No one is to come or go until morning. But as a storm rages outside and tensions mount within the home, Helen begins to wonder whether the murder isn't already inside, stalking his next victim...

Born in Abergavenny in 1876, Ethel Lina White was one of the best known crime writers of the 1930s and 40s, ranking alongside greats of the Golden Age such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. Many of her thrillers were adapted for film, most famously The Lady Vanishes (originally titled The Wheel Spins) which became one of Alfred Hitchcock's greatest triumphs as a director. Originally published as Some Must Watch in 1933, The Spiral Staircase has since been adapted for the screen three times.