The Perfect Holiday
TJ Emerson
Would you kill to be here?
Olivia and Julian are enjoying lazy days in their Spanish villa, a well-deserved break from their busy lives. Especially for Julian, who after a lifetime as a carer was thrust into the public eye following the tragic murder of his first wife.
The languid heat and peace of the villa is broken only by clifftop walks, sun drenched lunches and cooling swims. Until a chance encounter with Gabriel – an attractive man, many years their junior – changes everything.
Soon their idyllic break turns into a dangerous, high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse. Will any of them get out alive?
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Author Bio
T.J. Emerson’s debut psychological thriller was published by Legend Press and received brilliant reviews. Her short stories and features have been widely published in anthologies and magazines, and she works as a literary consultant and writing tutor. Her latest psychological thriller, The Perfect Holiday, will be published by Boldwood Books in April 2022. She lives in Scotland.
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Many of you will know me as the victim of a terrible crime. On a dark November night, someone broke into my Edinburgh home and murdered my beautiful wife, Helen. Smothered her with a pillow as she slept. The crime attracted nationwide coverage. Many of you sent me heartfelt messages of support, and I know you shared my disbelief that anyone could harm such a vulnerable woman. A woman who, in her forty-two years of life, had already suffered so much misfortune.
Ten years before Helen’s death, we were involved in a car accident. The spinal injury she sustained paralysed her lower body. Her head injuries left her with brain damage – her cognitive abilities severely impaired and her impulse control almost eradicated. But despite these traumas, she still had the same feisty personality, and she endured her merciless suffering with all the dignity she was capable of.
When I finally brought Helen home after months of hospitalisation, I had no idea of the difficulties that lay ahead. Like many people in similar situations, we lost everything. Our jobs, our home, our independence. Forced to live on benefits, we struggled through life, but, as I often pointed out to Helen, at least we had each other. Hard as it may be to believe, the accident made the bond between us stronger than ever.
As I write this memoir, sitting with my laptop in a fashionable café not far from my London home, it is difficult to accept that, to this day, her murder remains unsolved. It is an apparently motiveless crime. Money and jewellery were stolen from our ransacked home, and the police still believe a random stranger broke in, intending to burgle us. A stranger who ended up killing Helen in the process. Thoughts of this individual often keep me awake me at night. I cannot help wondering what could have driven him or her to commit such a seemingly pointless act. In all honesty, I am still amazed that despite a thorough investigation, the police have been unable to find any leads or produce a suspect. This lack of closure has left questions that may never be resolved: who killed my wife and why?

