The Hours Before Dawn

Celia Fremlin (1914-2009) was an English author renowned for her mystery fiction that infused domestic settings with criminal and occasionally supernatural tension, modernizing the sensation novel tradition. Her debut novel, The Hours Before Dawn (1958), won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 1960, and other notable works include Uncle Paul (1959, republished 2023) and The Trouble Makers (1963). She studied Classics at Oxford, contributed to Mass-Observation during WWII, and advocated for euthanasia.