Florence Butterfield has lived an extraordinary life full of travel, passion and adventure. But, at eighty-seven, she suspects there are no more surprises to come her way.

Then, one midsummer’s night, something terrible happens – so strange and unexpected that Florrie is suspicious. Was this really an accident, or is she living alongside a would-be murderer?

The only clue is a magenta envelope, discarded earlier that day.

And Florrie – cheerfully independent but often overlooked – is the only person determined to uncover the truth.

As she does, Florrie finds herself looking back on her own life . . . and a long-buried secret, traced in faded scars across her knuckles, becomes ever harder to ignore.

The Night in Question is a captivating novel that revolves around the life of eighty-seven-year-old Florence (Florrie) Butterfield who is living in a care home called Babbington Hall after she had to have her leg amputated and she is now wheelchair-bound.

When one of the residents dies, Florrie and the care home manager Renata find comfort in each other’s company. Renata asks Florrie if she can confide in her about her life but before she can do so, Renata dies, and the police rule it as suicide. Florrie isn’t convinced and neither is new care home resident Stanhope Jones, they believe that someone in the care home is a killer and they are determined to find out the truth.

The Night in Question is an intriguing and enthralling novel that takes place within a care home for the elderly. It was fantastic to see an octogenarian as the lead in a book and it works so well and has you rooting for Florrie and hoping that she is right and that no harm comes to her in her search for the truth.

The pace after the initial slow chapters, is spot on, and the plot is enjoyable. I loved the wit and humour that are ever present and that even at eight-seven Florrie wasn’t a woman to be messed with, she certainly was feisty. I also felt that the author did a fab job in portraying the older residents as humans who have thoughts, feelings, and emotions and not just some afterthought because of their ages.

This is a truly amazing mystery/amateur sleuth novel that I enjoyed the whole way through. It is a great read and leaves the reader feeling uplifted, although there are moments of sadness, especially when Florrie looks back on her life.

Susan Fletcher was born in Birmingham and studied English Literature at the University of York. Whilst taking the MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia, she began her first novel, Eve Green, which won the Whitbread First Novel Award (2004) and Betty Trask Prize (2005).

Since then, she has written seven novels, supplementing her writing through various roles including as a cheesemonger and a warden for an archaeological excavation site near Hadrian’s Wall. She has also been the Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Worcester. She lives in Warwickshire.