It’s a 1984 BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel, A Suspension of Mercy / The Story-Teller (1965). “When crime novelist Sydney Bartleby begins rehearsing the ‘perfect murder’ for creative inspiration, his macabre habits draw dangerous attention from neighbours, police, and even his own wife. But when she suddenly disappears, Sydney’s staged scenarios begin to look disturbingly real, forcing him into a tightening trap of suspicion, guilt, and psychological manipulation. As lies multiply and paranoia rises, the line between fiction and reality blurs, revealing a classic Highsmith world where innocence is ambiguous, motives are slippery, and the smallest misstep can turn imagination into deadly consequence.”

Listen here.