"Don't miss THE SHRINE, the brand new Detective's Daughter mystery - available now
They will learn the city's secrets. They will learn who plans to kill...
A man has jumped in front of a late night train. Stella Darnell, a cleaner who solves crimes, suspects it's murder. Now she's stirring up the past with questions that no one wants to answer.
Jack Harmon, a driver on the Tube, has a new home at the top of an old water tower, with a perfect bird's eye view of London. If he watches through binoculars, he will learn the city's secrets. He will learn who plans to kill...
THE DETECTIVE'S DAUGHTER SERIES:
The Detective's Daughter.
Ghost Girl.
The Detective's Secret.
The House With No Rooms.
The Dog Walker. P 2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC C 2015 Lesley Thomson"
"Don't miss THE SHRINE, the brand new Detective's Daughter mystery - available now
A woman lies dead on the ground. A girl watches from the shadows. What did she really see?
The summer of 1976 was the hottest in living memory. A lost little girl, dizzied by the head, stumbled upon a deserted museum. She thought she saw a woman lying dead on the ground. But when she opened her eyes, the woman had gone.
Forty years later, cleaner and detective Stella Darnell is investigating a suspected murder in the Botanical Gardens at Kew. Working methodically, stain by stain, she is drawn into an obsessive world, and towards a killer who has never been caught...
THE DETECTIVE'S DAUGHTER SERIES:
The Detective's Daughter.
Ghost Girl.
The Detective's Secret.
The House With No Rooms.
The Dog Walker.
What people are saying about THE HOUSE WITH NO ROOMS:
'I'd give it 6 stars if it were possible'
'An unsettling, accomplished book by a writer at the top of her game'
'There is a sense of menace, suspense and sadness all interspersed with pockets of humour. So cleverly written'
'Can't put it down, the perfect present' P 2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC C 2016 Lesley Thomson"
"Don't miss THE SHRINE, the brand new Detective's Daughter mystery - available now
Stella and Jack must reawaken the secrets of the past in order to solve the mysteries of the present.
January, 1987. In the depths of winter, only joggers and dog walkers brave the Thames towpath after dark. Helen Honeysett, a young newlywed, sets off for an evening run from her riverside cottage and disappears.
Twenty-nine years later, Helen's body has never been found. Her husband has asked Stella Darnell, a private detective, and her side-kick Jack Harmon, to find out what happened all those years ago. But when the five households on that desolate stretch of towpath refuse to give up their secrets, Stella and Jack find themselves hunting a killer whose trail has long gone cold. P 2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC C 2017 Lesley Thomson"
"Don't miss THE SHRINE, the brand new Detective's Daughter mystery - available now
From the number one bestseller of The Detective's Daughter.
For forty years, someone has got away with murder...
Forty years ago, seventeen-year-old Cassie Baker took a shortcut home from a small Cotswolds village, and was never seen again.
Twenty years later, Cotswolds police found Cassie's remains while searching for another missing teenager, Bryony Motson. Bryony's body was never found.
Now Stella Darnell, cleaner and private detective, has decided to find out what happened to Bryony. She knows her investigation will be dangerous. Because, for too long, someone has got away with murder. Someone who will do anything to keep it that way...
PRAISE FOR LESLEY THOMSON:
'In the best traditions of the classic whodunnit, this is Midsomer Murders for grown-ups' Jake Kerridge, SUNDAY EXPRESS.
'Lesley Thomson is a class above' IAN RANKIN.
'Stella Darnell is one of the most original characters in British crime fiction' Joan Smith, SUNDAY TIMES.
'A wonderfully eerie setting, unique characters and a chilling plot' ELLY GRIFFITHS.
'Clever, credible and memorable' LITERARY REVIEW.
'Gloriously well-written... Thomson creates a rich and sinister world that is utterly unique' WILLIAM SHAW. P 2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC C 2018 Lesley Thomson"
"Bloomsbury presents Ghost Girl by Lesley Thomson, read by Richard Attlee
FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE DETECTIVE'S DAUGHTER.
Seven cryptic photographs. A decades-old case. Can one woman find a killer?
Before his death, Terry Darnell was a famous detective. His daughter Stella, a cleaner, has inherited his methodical mind. She has also inherited a strange case file: seven photographs of empty streets. Why did her father keep them for so many years?
One photo dates from 1966, to a day when a young girl witnessed something that would haunt her forever.
As Stella scrubs away at the truth, the events of that day begin to haunt her too...
THE DETECTIVE'S DAUGHTER SERIES:
The Detective's Daughter.
Ghost Girl.
The Detective's Secret.
The House With No Rooms.
The Dog Walker. C 2014 Lesley Thomson P 2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC"
"Bloomsbury presents The Shrine by Lesley Thomson, read by Richard Atlee.
'This is Lesley Thomson at her very best; a wonderfully twisty story told with her customary warmth and brilliant eye for social detail. I loved it.' ELLY GRIFFITHS
A decades-old murder. A haunting legacy. A plot for revenge.
Stella Darnell knows her partner Jack is hiding something. After following him one evening, she discovers he’s been consulting a psychic in a desperate attempt to reach his dead mother. A sceptic by nature, and feeling betrayed by his lies, Stella fears what this means for their relationship.
Seeking distraction, she accepts DI Toni Kemp’s invitation to join her for a holiday in a small village in Gloucestershire. But the visit is derailed when a body is discovered at a shrine where a woman died decades earlier.
Drawn into the investigation, Stella must confront the legacy of a once-famous psychic whose shadow still hangs over Prestbury – while in the darkness, someone bent on revenge waits patiently for the perfect moment to strike...
Laced with character-based and situational humour, but with a compelling and layered murder mystery at its heart, THE SHRINE is part of the one-of-a-kind Detective's Daughter series, perfect for fans of LJ Ross and Kate Rhodes.
This series that can be enjoyed in any order.
Praise for Lesley Thomson
'Always a treat reading Lesley Thomson.' IAN RANKIN
'The final revelation is jaw-dropping.' SUNDAY TIMES P 2026 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC C 2026 Lesley Thomson"
"Eighty years of secrets. A body that reveals them all.
1941. Rupert and Adelaide Stride are raising their two daughters, Clare and Rosa, in the midst of war. When Rupert is called to fight, he dies on the beaches of Dunkirk, leaving his family to fend for themselves.
2023. Decades later, Clare and Rosa have retreated to the annex, trapped in the place where they were raised: Yew Tree House.
When the rooms are put up for rent, Jack Harmon sees the perfect spot for a family holiday with his twins and detective Stella Darnell. But then the children discover a skeleton with a hole in its skull hidden in the brambles of a decommissioned WWII pill box.
This home has always been a complicated one, but Stella and Jack will need to confront a history of revenge, desperation, and wartime tragedy to uncover the truth of what happened at Yew Tree House...
The must-read psychological procedural in the Detective's Daughter series from critically acclaimed author, Lesley Thomson, for fans of Elly Griffiths, Val McDermid and Mari Hannah.
'Always a treat reading Lesley Thomson.' IAN RANKIN"
"In a grand old mansion in the middle of the Sussex countryside, seven people have seen more than they should...
James Ritchie was looking forward to a boys' day out with his son, Wilbur – even if he was a little late picking him up from the home of his ex-wife, Anna. Annoyed by his late arrival, and competing for their son's attention, Anna leaves the two of them to their day with the promise of a roast dinner when Wilbur returns.
But Anna will never see her family again. That afternoon, James and Wilbur are found dead, the victims of a double stabbing on the beach.
DI Toni Kemp, of Sussex police, must unravel a case that shocked the county to its core. What she discovers will lead her to Blacklock House, a grand country mansion, long ago converted into flats. Here in the middle of nowhere, where a peacock struts the lawn, and a fountain plays intermittently, seven long-term residents have seen more than they should.
But this is a community who are good at keeping secrets..."
"Cleaner-turned-detective Stella Darnell connects a murder in Tewkesbury Abbey to a decades-old mystery in wartime London. From the number 1 bestselling author of The Detective's Daughter.
London, 1940
A woman lies dead in a bombed-out house. It looks like she's another tragic casualty of the Blitz, until police pathologist Aleck Northcote proves she was strangled and placed at the scene. But Northcote himself has something to hide. And when his past catches up with him, he too is murdered.
Tewkesbury, 2020
Beneath the vast stone arches of Tewkesbury Abbey, a man has been fatally stabbed. He is Roddy March, an investigative journalist for a podcast series uncovering miscarriages of justice. He was looking into the murder of police pathologist Dr Aleck Northcote – and was certain he had uncovered Northcote's real killer.
Stella Darnell used to run a detective agency alongside her cleaning business. She's moved to Tewkesbury to escape from death, not to court it – but Roddy died in her arms and, Stella is someone impelled to root out evil when she finds it. Now she is determined to hunt down Roddy's killer – but then she finds another body...
2021 Head of Zeus"
"Freddy left her childhood home in Newhaven twenty-two years ago and swore never to return. But now her parents are dead, and she's back in her hometown to help her brothers manage the family fishmonger. Nothing here has changed: the stink of fish coming up from the marshes; the shopping trolleys half-buried by muddy tides; the neighbours sniffing for a new piece of gossip. It's not what Freddy would have chosen, but at least while she's here she'll get to see her childhood best friends, Toni and Pauline. At school, the three of them were inseparable. The teachers called them the Mermaids for their obsession with the sea, and with each other. Then Pauline goes missing, and Freddy must decide. Go back to her new life, or stay and find her friend?
Praise for the author:
“One of the most original characters in British crime fiction ... Thomson's plots are original and she draws her characters with genuine affection” SUNDAY TIMES
“In the best traditions of the classic whodunnit, this is Midsomer Murders for grown-ups” SUNDAY EXPRESS
“A wonderfully eerie London setting and a chilling plot ... Lesley Thomson is one of our leading crime writers” ELLY GRIFFITHS
“A clever mystery plot ... Its excellence is in the characters, all credible and memorable” LITERARY REVIEW
“Gloriously well-written ... Thomson creates a rich and sinister world that is utterly unique” WILLIAM SHAW"
"FROM THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER OF THE DETECTIVE'S DAUGHTER.
Beneath the beauty lurks something bad...
June, 1977
As night falls, seventeen-year-old Cassie Baker leaves Winchcome and takes her usual short-cut down a moonlit country lane. She never makes it home. With no body, and no evidence, she's just another teenage runaway.
December, 1999
A manhunt is launched for a missing girl, Bryony Motson. The search leads Cotswold police to an ancient burial site outside Winchcombe. Here, inside a stone chamber, are the remains of Cassie Baker. Bryony is never found.
June, 2016
Stella Darnell, cleaner and private detective, moves to Winchcombe to solve the long-cold case. By now, evidence has decayed, gossip become fact, and witnesses forgotten what they saw. And, if there is a killer in their midst, it is someone who has got away with murder for twenty years. Someone who will do anything to keep it that way..."
"In January 1987, Helen Honeysett goes on an evening run from her riverside cottage and disappears. Twenty-nine years later, Helen's body has never been found. Her husband has hired a detective to find out what happened all those years ago, but when the five households on that desolate stretch of towpath refuse to give up their secrets, Stella and Jack find themselves hunting a killer whose trail has long gone cold."
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