The Maidens

Mariana Andros is a group therapist in London, still grieving her husband Sebastian. Her niece Zoe, whom Mariana raised, is a student at Cambridge, and she calls with terrible news: her best friend Tara Hampton has been murdered. Mariana travels to Cambridge to be with her.

The police make an arrest, but Mariana believes they have the wrong person. Her suspicion lands on Edward Fosca, a professor of Greek tragedy whose charm has won him the devotion of his students. He leads a secret society of female students known as the Maidens.

Fosca has an alibi. Then two more Maidens are killed, and Mariana's fixation on him tightens. It puts pressure on her closest relationships and on how far anyone is willing to trust her judgement.

This is a psychological mystery set on a university campus, with Greek myth woven through the plot, particularly the story of Demeter and Persephone and the rites of Eleusis.

It is the second novel by Alex Michaelides, following The Silent Patient, and the psychotherapist Theo Faber from that book makes an appearance. Expect a suspect who is hard to prove guilty and an investigator whose grief clouds how others see her.