This book was sent to me free of charge by the publisher Head of Zeus

Synopsis

A haunted house, a broken family and a body that has never been found. 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. Only her dog returns.

Twenty-nine years later, 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…

My thoughts

This is one of those books where anyone and everyone could have been the killer, every character in the Street here Helen Honeysett went missing, has an alibi, but those alibis do not stand up under close scrutiny, and everyone has means, motive and opportunity. It is a rare book that can keep you guessing until the end but Lesley Thomson achieves this in the next installment her series he Detective’s Daughter, I really had no idea who the killer was and with every twist and turn, every new revelation I suspected someone else.

This is a really well written mystery, with great characters, many of whom are really unlikable and seem to have their secrets. The plot is nicely paced and the clues are laid neatly out for the reader without giving anything away. The main characters of Stella and Jack are brilliantly written, Jack being sensitive to the supernatural and feelings, and Stella being more of the clinical thinking detective and they compliment each other really well.

The supporting characters are equally well written, with their own histories and feelings.

At no time did the plot feel trite or boring and I read this quickly as I could not wait to see who the killer was and why Helen was murdered and what had happened to her body.

A great read.

4 out of 5*