The Beachcomber

The Beachcomber
Josephine Cox

Another page-turning story of tragedy and triumph from the No.1 bestselling author of The Loner and The Journey.In the summer of 1952, two lonely people arrive in the pretty seaside hamlet of West Bay. Strangers coming from very different backgrounds, they are there for the same reasons: to find peace of mind and the chance to start a new life.Tom Arnold has abandoned all his possessions and walked away from a highly paid job. A year ago, he had a wife and two beautiful children, when suddenly his world was turned upside-down. The car he was driving with his family was deliberately run off the road high above the cliffs. He was the only survivor. The driver – who Tom is sure intended to kill them all – has never been found.Kathy Wilson has tried to cling on to her zest for life through times of pain and loneliness. Recovering from her divorce, she seeks comfort in the arms of other men. But a shocking, revealing row with her mother is the final straw, and when she inherits a rundown house in West Bay, she flees to Dorset.For both Tom and Kathy, it seems there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Yet even now, someone means to undermine their search for happiness. People are jealous. And a brutal killer is still on the loose… Suddenly West Bay is no longer the peaceful place it seemed…

JOSEPHINE COX

The Beachcomber

COPYRIGHT (#ulink_93fb761c-bf36-5dc6-a595-2f3ad6c8f0ec)

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers 2003

Copyright © Josephine Cox 2003

Josephine Cox asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

Source ISBN: 9780007302000

Ebook Edition © APRIL 2012 ISBN 9780007373123

Version: 2017-08-16

DEDICATION (#ulink_664d251b-aa83-5e83-bd69-782c11d46a7a)

This book, and every book I will ever write, is for Ken, a man amongst men, my soulmate and inspiration forever.

CONTENTS

COVER (#u05f435f2-3616-5d6a-a413-d39a0a5eac7d)

TITLE PAGE (#ue20788a3-734f-5d83-ba8d-c1a7bf092ec0)

COPYRIGHT (#uec7453c1-674c-595c-8901-c07d11af6853)

DEDICATION (#u2ceef216-209a-5872-9442-e78b27d7d4e6)

PART ONE (#u6dff8a75-bb41-5857-9637-3294bd23c0cd)

CHAPTER ONE (#ub2ed2f23-667d-5f8e-be2f-ec5cf2fadb56)

CHAPTER TWO (#u56aa6d33-aa3c-563d-a41d-45d5123f0013)

PART TWO (#udfc9fda1-1110-5631-86c8-a6c7ba761e99)

CHAPTER THREE (#udaca7251-fbdb-5029-8a02-7854b37723d1)

CHAPTER FOUR (#ub2761812-fce8-58a6-b8d3-9c68d641eca8)

CHAPTER FIVE (#u12df8e07-3883-5dcb-87f4-385c4b328e5a)

CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER NINETEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWENTY (#litres_trial_promo)

PART THREE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO (#litres_trial_promo)