Author: Stapleton, Susannah

France

Published on 24 April 2025 by PAN MACMILLAN (Picador) in the United Kingdom.

Hardback | 400 pages, 30 b/w integrated
242 x 164 x 36 | 616g

'I couldn't stop reading it. Susannah Stapleton writes with beautiful clarity and has produced a classic of true crime' - Lissa Evans, author of Small Bomb at DimperleyA gripping, explosive murder mystery by acclaimed true crime writer Susannah Stapleton.

In April 1929, the body of British artist Olive Branson was found submerged in a water tank outside her farmhouse in a picturesque Provence village. Dressed only in a pink shirt and stockings, she had a bullet hole between her eyes and a revolver by her side.

Was it suicide – or murder?The initial investigation concluded suicide, but under pressure from Olive’s family to conduct a murder enquiry, city detective Alexandre Guibbal was brought in to reopen the case.

Examining never-before-seen evidence, acclaimed true crime writer Susannah Stapleton builds a vivid and absorbing picture of an unconventional life and a violent death, and an investigation that shines a bright light on a village simmering with resentments and dangerous rivalries . . .