Claire Fuller’s ‘Bitter Orange’ is lots of intelligent fun

The country house has a rich history in the modern novel, whether it be Agatha Christie, Daphne du Maurier, L.P. Hartley, Ian McEwan or any others of a long list. Add in a lazy hot summer and the setting alone fizzes with intrigue and hidden menace.

Claire Fuller is very good indeed on the details of her chosen country house, Lyntons, and we are only a few pages into Bitter Orange before mention of a “judas hole” alerts us to the impending menace: “I am kneeling on the bare boards of my attic bathroom at Lyntons, one eye pressed to the lens that sticks up from the floor. ... In the room below a body lies in the pinking bathwater, the open eyes staring up at me for too long.”