Police are hunting a lodger after a woman and her mother were found dead at a house.
Merseyside Police were called to the address in Fairhaven Road, Southport, at around 5.45pm on Saturday when the bodies of Angela Holgate, 54, and 75-year-old Alice Huyton were found by a relative.
Officers are treating the deaths as suspicious and post-mortem examinations will take place to establish the cause.
It is thought they may have been strangled or suffocated.
Detectives are keen to speak to a lodger at mother-of-two Ms Holgate's property in upmarket Churchtown.
Police are appealing to 51-year-old Barry Morrow to contact them.
He is described as white, 5ft 7in, of medium to stocky build with straight, short brown hair that is receding and blue eyes.
It is thought he may be in either France or Spain.
Mrs Huyton was last seen on Friday evening when she left her home in Southport to visit her daughter, who had been ill recently and had not been seen out of the house for some time.
She was married and her husband, thought to be in his 80s, was said to be "devastated" at news of the deaths.