The green knight / Iris Murdoch.

In a small circle of friends in London, some disturbing occurrences are taking place: Lucas Graffe, a reclusive academic, kills a man in self-defense, and disappeara immediately after the trail, leaving his brother, the charismatic actor Clement Graffe, tortured by his absence. Their friend Bellamy James rids himself of all ties and possessions, even giving away his beloved dog. Yearning for simplicity and purification, he prepares himself for a monastic life. And outside Clifton, the house where the widowed Louise Anderson lives with her three daughters, a very peculiar man is watching.