It’s my very great pleasure to welcome Caroline England to stay in with me today and discuss her latest book. Caroline has appeared many times on Linda’s Book Bag in posts you’ll find here.
Let’s find out more:
Staying in with Caroline England
Welcome back to Linda’s Book Bag, Caroline, and thank you for agreeing to stay in with me.
Tell me, which of your books have you brought along to share this evening and why have you chosen it?
I have brought along my hot-off-the-press new psychological suspense thriller, Behind Her Smile, out today!
Oo! Happy Behind Her Smile publication day. That’s rather a disturbing cover. Am I right to be disturbed?
To give you a taster, here is the prologue:
This isn’t real, she says to herself, as she watches the man’s chins wag, his mouth yawn open. And yet she can smell his fusty breath, so perhaps she’s really there in his sour, tobacco-stained study. Only she’s not in his upright office chair and her small feet don’t come anywhere near the end of this footrest. Molly Dolly is by her side, her sweet lips ugly and swollen, her creamy skin stained with tears, and the light above her is blinding.
Her chest feels heavy, her throat scratchy and sore and … she darts her tongue around her gums. There’s one – no, several – loose teeth and that salty, sickening taste of blood.
‘Wake up. Darling, please wake up!’
Her ears prick at the urgent tones from afar. She shapes her arms and her legs to kick out, to escape the depths of this dark, sludgy world and swim to the surface. She can’t; she just can’t. She’s paralysed, stuck. Yet she can see the black staring eyes in the timber knots above her, so she must be in her bedroom.
And someone is near, silently watching her.
‘You’re mistaken.’
She rocks her head to the voice. It’s the man. He’s still there, his bushy eyebrows knitted, his fetid muzzle moving. ‘You’re mistaken.’
‘I’m not. I remember it.’
His ruddy features twist and distort. ‘You are mistaken.’ ‘No, I’m not.’
‘Then you are a liar!’
His leery smile moves nearer, and nearer again. Then it opens like a furnace, blasting whisky fumes and loud words in her face.
‘Bad things happen to liars, you know that, don’t you?’
Goodness me. I AM right to feel very unsettled. So, what can we expect from an evening in with Behind Her Smile?
As the title suggests, you can expect lots of smiling in the story! The question is whose particular smile or smiles we are talking about, why those characters are smiling and what those smiles might mask. Of course the answer could be simple emotional expressions of joy and happiness, genuine pleasure or profound relief, but Laurie’s Dunn’s dark and twisty tale falls in the arena of psychological fiction, so the reasons are likely to be far more complicated — and disturbing — than that!
I imagine so. Why have you chosen to focus on the concept of a smile?
Psychological thrillers, domestic noir and psychological suspense novels focus on the chasm between inner and outer life, so whilst the smile can function on the superficial level, it is also likely to be a central motif of deception, concealment and psychological tension, the ultimate tool used by authors to blindside their readers. It’s the perfect way to maintain the true façades of the characters or to hide the turbulent realities beneath their calm exteriors, to generate the instability, dark secrets and suspense that readers of this genre crave. Indeed, I hope the title serves as a signal that the primary tension of the novel lies in the deliberate discrepancy between outward appearances and the dark realities concealed beneath it.
I have a horrible feeling that’s pretty much a spot-on assessment of the world in general Caroline. Behind Her Smile sounds fabulous.
What else have you brought along and why have you brought it?
The story is set in city centre Manchester in the build up to Christmas, so I’ve wrapped myself in my vintage puffa jacket and nipped out to the chilly winter evening. I’ve duly waved to the giant Santa Claus outside Central Library, then I’ve weaved through the glut of pink-faced shoppers until I’ve reached the Christmas Markets where I’ve and ambled around the busy stalls and brightly lit Alpine huts. Singing along to ‘Fairytale of New York’, I’ve smiled at the round-bellied gnomes, the pink-nosed Rudolphs and marching tin soldiers and I’ve carefully scrutinised the plethora of deli goodies, flavoured fudges and other treats, deciding on which we could nibble during our night in. In the end I’ve chosen roast chestnut butter cookies, toffee strawberries and frosted Macadamia nuts from a Norwegian kiosk, a selection of cheese, salami and ham from Made in Italy, and a mug of Manc mulled wine for you and a gluhwein “glögg” for me! Yet even as I arrive and we settle down on your comfy sofa, I can quite shake off the sensation that someone had been watching and even following me…
I rather think I’m going to need that mulled wine (the only kind I can drink by the way), if you’re going to tell me things like that…
Thank you so much for staying in with me on Behind Her Smile publication day. Help yourself to the food and gluhwein Caroline and I’ll give readers a few more details about Behind Her Smile – if I dare!
Behind Her Smile
Buried secrets are dangerous.
Unearthing them might be deadly …
Laurie Dunn has returned to her childhood attic bedroom and her old nightmares have come rushing back. Terrorised by a client-related mugging, her job as a criminal solicitor causes more problems than solutions.
Finn Ballentine yearns for a fresh start, but even the glossy façade of his new law firm can’t protect him from the past he’s running from.
After a disturbing remark by her confused father, Laurie joins forces with Finn to uncover dark truths. But the long-buried secrets they unearth are laced with danger for them both.
Published in paperback by Bullington press today, 27th November 2025, Behind Her Smile is available for purchase here.
About Caroline England
Known as the ‘Duchess of Dark Domestic Noir’, Caroline England is the author of eight psychological suspense thrillers, Beneath the Skin, the bestseller My Husband’s Lies, Betray Her, The Sinner, The Stranger Beside Me, The Return of Whittle and her new thriller, Behind Her Smile. She also writes gothic-tinged psychological thrillers as CE Rose, namely The House of Hidden Secrets, The House on the Water’s Edge, The Shadows of Rutherford House and The Attic at Wilton Place.
Caroline writes ‘scarily brilliant’, dark twisty stories that delve into complicated relationships, secrets and the moral grey area. Drawing on her career as a criminal and divorce lawyer, she creates characters who get caught up in extraordinary situations, moral dilemmas and crime. She guarantees a jaw-dropping ending!
To find out more about Caroline, visit her website or follow her on X @CazEngland, Facebook, Instagram and Bluesky.
English (US) · 