In a grand old mansion in the middle of the Sussex countryside, seven people have seen more than they should... The new chilling thriller from Lesley Thomson.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 which has 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...

'Full of atmosphere and a creeping sense of menace ... A remorseless thriller' Elly Griffths. —- Freddy Power walked out of her childhood home twenty-two years ago, and swore never to return. But now she's back, helping run her family's fishery in Newhaven in the wake of her mother's death. It feels as if time has stood still. The morning mist hanging over the reed beds, the ghost river that no longer leads to the sea, the subterranean light slanting into her mother's grotto-like living room. The only thing that's really changed is her childhood friendship with Toni and Mags. The three of them were once inseparable. Now, after decades of silence, they feel like strangers. Freddy is not planning to be in Newhaven for long. But when Mags goes missing, old secrets – and old passions – are reignited. Freddy is determined to stay and find her friend. Even if it means confronting the past, and facing up to the truth about her family....

A woman lies dead in a bombed-out house. A tragic casualty of the Blitz? Or something more sinister? Sixty years later, the detective's daughter unearths the truth... From the number 1 bestselling author of The Detective's Daughter. LONDON, 1940 Several neighbours heard the scream of the woman in the bombed-out house. One told the detective she thought the lady had seen a mouse. Another said it wasn't his business what went on behind closed doors. None of them imagined that a trusting young woman was being strangled by her lover. TEWKESBURY, 2020 Beneath the vast stone arches of Tewkesbury Abbey, a man lies bleeding, close to death. He is the creator of a true-crime podcast which now will never air. He was investigating the murder of a 1940s police pathologist – had he come closer to the truth than he realised? Stella Darnell has moved to Tewkesbury to escape from death, not to court it. But when this man dies...

'A class above' IAN RANKIN. Forty years ago, in the dark of the playground, two children's lives were changed for ever. Stella Darnell is a cleaner. But when she isn't tackling dust and dirt and restoring order to chaos, Stella solves murders. Her latest case concerns a man convicted of killing his mistress. His daughter thinks he's innocent, and needs Stella to prove it. As Stella sifts through piles of evidence and interview suspects, she discovers a link between the recent murder and a famous case from forty years ago: the shocking death of six-year-old Sarah Ferris, killed in the shadows of an empty playground. Stella knows that dredging up the past can be dangerous. But as she pieces together the tragedy of what happened to Sarah, she is drawn into a story of jealousy, betrayal and the end of innocence. A story that has not yet reached its end... 'One of the most original characters...

'Lesley Thomson at her considerable best - you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll never guess.' ELLY GRIFFITHS'Always a treat reading Lesley Thomson.' IAN RANKINEighty years of secrets. A body that reveals them all.1940. At Yew Tree House, recently widowed Adelaide Stride is raising her two daughters alone – but it's not just the threat of German invasion that keeps her up at night. She is surrounded by enemies posing as allies and, while war rages, she grows sure that something terrible is about to happen.2023. Soon after Stella Darnell begins her holiday at Yew Tree House, a skeleton is found in a pillbox at the bottom of the garden. The bullet hole in the skull tells her that the person was murdered.This triggers the unravelling of a mystery eighty years in the making. Soon, Stella will learn that Adelaide was right to worry – the fighting might have been happening abroad, but the...

A chilling new case for the Detective's Daughter. The summer of 1976 was the hottest in living memory. Britain sweltered, trees and plants wilted, fire ripped through forests and rivers ran dry. In London's Kew Gardens a ten year old girl was parted from her friends and, dizzied by scorching heat, wandered lost into its secluded undergrowth. Forty years later, the detective's daughter Stella Darnell takes on a chilling new case. Along with Jack, a train driver, she will be drawn to the secret spaces of Kew, and to an unsolved murder that has lain dormant for decades.

WINNER OF THE PEOPLE’S BOOK PRIZE 2010 A spellbinding mystery of obsession and guilt, this is also the poignant story of what happens to those left behind when a child vanishes without trace. It is the summer of 1968, the day Senator Robert Kennedy is shot. Two nine-year-old girls are playing hide and seek in the ruins of a deserted village. Alice has discovered a secret about Eleanor Ramsay’s mother, and is taunting the other girl. When it is Eleanor’s turn to hide, Alice disappears. Years later, an extraordinary turn of events opens up shocking truths for the Ramsay family and all who knew the missing girl.

An exclusive short story from the bestselling author of The Detective's Daughter.Stella Darnell understands that her mum and dad don't want to live together anymore. But she wishes she didn't have to say goodbye to her bedroom, or pack her hateful pink suitcase that bangs against her legs. Her mum says she'll have special weekends just to see her dad - but Stella knows that when her dad is solving crimes, there's no time for her.And so, aged seven and a half, the detective's daughter decides to run away...

Kate Rokesmith’s decision to go to the river changed the lives of many. Her murder shocked the nation. Her husband, never charged, moved abroad under a cloud of suspicion. Her son, just four years old, grew up in a loveless boarding school. And Detective Inspector Darnell, vowing to leave no stone unturned in the search for her killer, began to lose his only daughter. The young Stella Darnell grew to resent the dead Kate Rokesmith. Her dad had never vowed to leave no stone unturned for her. Now, thirty years later, Stella is dutifully sorting through her father’s attic after his sudden death. The Rokesmith case papers are in a corner, gathering dust: the case was never solved. Stella knows she should destroy them. Instead, she opens the box, and starts to read.