The Distant Dead is the eighth book in Lesley Thomson’s ‘The Detective’s Daughter’ crime series. Like the most recent book in the series, The Mystery of Yew Tree House, The Distant Dead has a dual timeline, moving back and forth between 1940 during the height of the Blitz and the present day (2020). The wartime mystery element and the present day murder investigations can definitely be enjoyed without having read any of the previous books. These are satisfyingly complex, with lots of potential suspects and some surprising reveals. There are also a few rather convenient coincidences with Stella, in particular, having a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

However, a lot of the book involves the ups and downs of Stella and Jack’s relationship (it’s a definite down at this point) and this element definitely engaged me a lot less. I noted in my review of The Playground Murders that I felt I’d missed out by not having followed the development of their relationship from the beginning, and the same was true here. Additionally, it took me a bit of time to recall who was who when it came to the employees of Clean Slate, the cleaning business started by Stella, and their various partners. I also found Stella’s journalist friend and current flatmate, Lucie, increasingly annoying.

I enjoyed the unravelling of the mystery, which spans six decades, and I thought the scenes in wartime London were really realistically evoked. George Cotton, the detective assigned to the 1940 murder case, was a brilliant character, an example of a dogged, thorough and principled police officer determined to bring the culprit to justice. If I’m honest, I found the book quite slow, mainly for the reasons I mentioned above. However, those who’ve followed the series from the beginning and are fans of Stella and Jack, will I’m sure find it another satisfying outing for the duo.

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I was new to this series of Stella Darnell and enjoyed the characters and the story line, with the connection between the second world war and current times. Lots of twists and turns to keep you hooked and page turning. Will now be keen to read more from this series of books.

I adored The Distant Dead, the first book I've read by Lesley Thomson and I can't wait to discover her back catalogue ! I love dual timeline novels and so the 1940s war time setting in London and contemporary Tewkesbury really appealed to me. The author cleverly moves the plot between the periods and beautifully weaves together the various plot strands. Thomson has created a rich cast of characters and I loved Stella and her team. An enjoyable and gripping novel that was a joy to read.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC.

I received this book from the publishers via Netgalley for a review. Love Lesley Thomson books and this is no exception gripped me from the start and didn't let go till the last page.

This is Thomson's 8th book in the Detective's Daughter series but the first I have had the pleasure to read,

A very clever story that deals with a murder during the second world war and then other killings over the decades culminating in 2019 with the death of a true crime pod-caster and clock repairer in Tewkesbury.

The different timelines, killings, family dynamics, historic events and motives are expertly tied together as Stella and her friends pull at the threads to discover who was responsible for what killing at various times in the past. There are enough reasons for a cast of suspects to be responsible for the deaths over the decades and this is an excellent read.

If you want a fun, clever read that deals with the past and present you will not be disappointed.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in return for an impartial review.

An enjoyable if very intricate novel. A murder of a young mother in 1940 is the catalyst for later murders. Then a young podcaster starts investigating in the present day and is himself murdered. Stella, a professional cleaner discovers his body in Tewkesbury Abbey. They had just come from The Death Club, a group gathered to discuss death and what it means to its members. The book goes back and forward in time, the links between the time lines evolving. I look forward to reading previous and possible future books involving Stella and her friends

I was gifted this to review by Head of Zeus, so huge thanks to them. The Distant Dead is the eighth in a series by Lesley Thomson, so I am coming late to the party. What attracted me to the book? Two things, really. Firstly there was a mention of a WW2 element, and I am a sucker for anything war-related. Secondly, some of the action takes place in the Gloucestershire town of Tewksbury. Years ago now, a very dear friend of mine, Miles Amherst - long since gone,sadly - founded a choir school at Tewksbury Abbey. I had taught with him in Ely, but we had gone our separate ways. When the choir school was running, I was teaching in a Shropshire prep school, and I always had a half day on Mondays. It was a bit of a drive, but sometimes I used to motor down to Tewksbury, rehearse with the choir and help them sing Evensong. Afterwards was always beer, food - and an small-hours drive back to Salop.

So, happy memories, but what of the book? I am not the biggest fan of split time narratives, but many authors are, so it is what it is. In this case, at least, the connection between the narratives is clear. In Blitz-torn London, a young woman is found dead - strangled in an abandoned house. The pathologist called to the scene, and who later carries out the post mortem, is a man called Aleck Northcote. He tells the police investigating the case that the woman, Maple Greenhill was a common prostitute.

Years later, Northcote has retired to Tewksbury, but is found dead. His wastrel son is convicted of his murder. Pretty much present day, Stella Darnell, the daughter of a policeman, now working as a contract cleaner in Tewksbury, meets a man named Roddy March who has produced a podcast about the 1963 murder of Northcote. Roddy investigates cases where he thinks the wrong person went to prison - or, in this case, the gallows. When Roddy is found murdered next to an ancient tomb in Tewksbury Abbey, Stella feels connected enough to find out the truth about how past and present have merged - with fatal consequences.

So, what exactly happened in 1940?. We know - from the prologue - that Maple Greenhill has gone into an empty house with a man friend, and that he strangles her. When her body is found, London copper George Cotton is called, but his investigation leads nowhere until a cigarette lighter is found at the scene. It is engraved with the initials AXN. Cotton puts two and two together, and assumes that the pathologist - Aleck Xavier Northcote - must have dropped it when he was called to look at the body. Then, in a separate breakthrough, a garment repair ticket is found in Maple's coat. When Cotton visits the tailor, he is astonished to be joined by a woman who says she has lost the self-same ticket. The woman is Mrs Aleck Northcote.

Lesley Thomson switches the narratives very cleverly and poses important questions as the book progresses. Was Northcote Maple's man-friend, and did he kill her? If he did, how then did he avoid prosecution and survive to be murdered in his own house twenty three years later? And if Giles Northcote - who had visited his father on than fateful evening to ask for money to pay off a gambling debt - didn't kill his father, then who did? And was the killer somehow connected to the death of Maple Greenhill.

Obviously, I am not about to reveal the answer to the conundrum, but you will enjoy - as I did - how Lesley Thomson has Stella Darnell - and her companions -  searching for, and then finding, the truth. The actual solution to what turns out to be multiple murders is breathtakingly complex, but this a clever, literate and totally convincing murder mystery - and thoroughly, thoroughly English. People who follow the news know that Tewksbury is notoriously susceptible to flooding, standing as it does at the confluence of the rivers Severn and Warwickshire Avon, and Lesley Thompson uses the power of the river as it hurtles over weirs and beneath bridges as a very effective metaphor for the violence in human souls.

“She’s moved to Tewkesbury to escape from death, not to court it”


I feel as though I have lived every moment of this investigation with cleaner turned amateur detective, Stella Darnell and her team, and now I am all worn out and ready for a rest before my next case!

With the prologue really setting the scene, the pace of the ensuing storyline is defined, which although not fast paced, has an abundance of really quite dark and understated murders for our intrepid team of amateur sleuths to solve, before the rather satisfying conclusion is reached, and the ‘Detective’s Daughter’ lives to fight another day – but only just!

As I have come into the series with this, book #8, I can see that there is a backstory running through each episode, although the author did a good job of drip-feeding me the pertinent facts at just the right time, so that I never really felt short-changed in knowing what the characters were talking about and why they were interacting with each other in a certain way. For me personally, that was enough to make this book work fine as a stand alone story.

This dual timeline story, which begins during the London wartime blitz of 1940, and concludes many miles away in Tewkesbury several decades later, is told in alternating chapters, which are well signposted and kept short, so that tracking the many scene changes and keeping things fluid, is relatively straightforward.

This story definitely wasn’t written for the reader who likes their murders to be neatly packaged and compartmentalised. Everyone was both a suspect and a potential victim. My own suspect list had so many names on it, I began to lose track of them all, particularly as they were crossed off then added back on again, with every new twist and turn, of which there plenty. And No! I didn’t even guess the real perpetrator in the end, which was a little frustrating. There were just too many lies and secrets, so much double crossing and back-stabbing, that sorting out the guilty from the innocent, needed a criminology degree!

This multi-layered, well structured story, is richly textured and intense, as with potential suspects lurking around every corner, who is it safe to trust? The pace of the plot has natural peaks and troughs and the author has the skill, authority and confidence in her writing, to allow her characters a voice of their own and free reign to take control of a situation. At times the atmosphere is a little claustrophobic and almost too replete with detail, especially as much of the action takes place in the dead of night and, typically for England, during adverse and inclement weather conditions. However, for invoking a real sense of time and place and for ratcheting up the tension a notch or two, this was a great touch and never out of step with events as they occurred in either time period.

Complex family connections, a corrupt police investigation leading to a complete travesty of justice, and victims still seeking closure, revenge, retribution and truth, link these crimes, only separated by time, but never far from thought and definitely never forgiven or forgotten by so many. All the result of one person’s incontrovertible belief, that their status in the community gave them carte blanche to behave in whatever way they chose without justification, made them untouchable and immune from suffering any consequences, even when their heinous crimes are uncovered, with the shifted burden of guilt even transcending their death.

Author Lesley Thomson, has created a large sprawling cast of well drawn, defined and developed, characters, only a small percentage of which I was particularly eager to engage with, which is exactly as it should have been, given the many personal vendettas and rivalries involved. Although Stella herself is an authentic and genuinely believable character, she still comes across as a very emotionally complex person, even somewhat vulnerable, in that she seems almost reluctantly desperate to carry on in her detective father’s footsteps, as if to honour him and keep his memory alive in some way. In that respect, maybe she is still trying to find her place in life, searching for a sense of belonging and trying to decide whether beginning a new life with Jack and his young family, is really the right road for her to take towards her future happiness.

As a purely personal connection and a nod to the author, Stella also has a constant companion of the four-legged variety, a poodle called Stanley, whose bark is much worse than his bite, although both would make any unsuspecting potential attackers think twice!

I was always led to believe that “revenge is a dish best served cold”, although Stella and her team are very much of the opinion that it can be served at any temperature, and I have to say, I can see where they are coming from!

What a fantastic addition to this great series!

During the bombing in London, 1940, a scream is heard coming from a derelict house, but no-one paid much notice. However, a young woman's body is found, strangled. In Tewkesbury, 2020, a man's body is found; he broadcast a true-crime podcast describing his investigation into the murder of a 1940's police pathologist - how close to the truth did he get? Stella moved to Tewkesbury to get away from murder, but when this man died in her arms she finds herself right back in the middle of it - again.

This series just keeps getting better; Lesley Thomson really knows how to grab her reader's attention and keep it there until the very end. With this being a dual timeline mystery, I found that I got so involved in each one that it was a bit of a surprise when it all changed. Intricately woven and with plenty going on, I was hooked from the word go. Expertly written with well-developed characters, this is an exciting read which I'm happy to recommend and give 4.5*.

My thanks to the publisher for my copy via NetGalley and to Vicky Joss for my spot on this tour; this is - as always - my honest, original and unbiased review.

The Detective Daughter series delivers an original twist on the classic murder mystery genre. Stella, the detective's daughter, has a cleaning business and a detective agency with an eclectic mix of employees. The main protagonists are believably eccentric and flawed. This story reads well as a standalone, but the series is addictive and engaging and worth reading in its entirety.

This dual timeline story explores a wartime murder during the London blitz and murder in Tewkesbury in 2019. The connections between the two stories are revealed in a suspenseful way and involve Stella, Jack and the other team members across London and Tewkesbury.

The recent murders are catalysed by The Death Cafe, a group that discusses death that Stella is drawn to. The story has important character development for the main protagonists in addition to the well-plotted murder mystery.

Evocativewith vivid sensory imagery, the reader is drawn into a world of deceit and murder that is chilling and disturbing. The historical and contemporary are interwoven convincingly and give the story its classic murder mystery ethos.

This story's atmospheric settings and vibrant characters elevate the simple murder mystery into something that resonates.

I received a copy of this book from 'Head of Zeus' via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I wasn't a fan of the previous book i read in this series but I loved this one and I'm thinking of going back and read the rest of the series.
A well written, gripping and entertaining story that kept me hooked and guessing.
The author did an excellent job in delivering this story full of twists and turns.
The characters are well thought and I liked them.
I can't wait to read the rest of the series.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

‘The Distant Dead’ is the eighth book in the bestselling series featuring the part time cleaner and part time detective Stella Darnell. I haven’t quite caught up with every book in the series but I am getting there. I read the synopsis for ‘The Distant Dead’ and it certainly appealed to me – partly because I love the character of Stella Darnell and partly because of the fact that part of the story takes place during the Second World War, which is a period that I am fascinated by. So without further ado, I grabbed my copy of the book, I grabbed a cup of tea and settled down for what proved to be an interesting afternoon of reading. I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘The Distant Dead’ but more about that in a bit.
It took me no time at all to get into ‘The Distant Dead’. In fact by the time I got to the end of the second chapter, I knew that I would find it increasingly difficult to put the book to one side for any length of time. The book seemed to have developed a hold over me and it was a hold that I wasn’t willing to break. The dual timelines fascinated me and I had to keep reading to discover how the two timelines were connected and whether or not Stella managed to solve the cases. The pages flew over at speed and at one point the page numbers became a blur. I found ‘The Distant Dead’ to be a gripping read, which certainly kept me guessing and kept me on the edge of my seat.
‘The Distant Dead’ is superbly written but then I think that to be true of all of the books in the series. Lesley certainly knows how to grab the reader’s attention and draw them into what proves to be a compelling story. The author has one of those easy going writing styles that is easy to get used to and easy to get along with. She has a way o making the reader feel as though they are part of the story and at the heart of the action so to speak. I loved the way in which Lesley told the story using dual timelines. The two timelines interlinked well and the story flowed seamlessly as a result. Reading ‘The Distant Dead’ felt like being on an at times scary and unpredictable rollercoaster ride with several twists and turns along the way.
In short, I thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘The Distant Dead’ and I would recommend it to other readers. I will certainly be reading more of Lesley’s work in the future. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 5* out of 5*.

Traditional Vein, Own Unique Stamp...
The eighth entry in The Detective’s Daughter series of mysteries and a top class addition with a credible cast of characters and a compelling, clever narrative. Atmospheric with some excellent descriptive passages. A whodunit in traditional vein but with its’ own unique stamp.

What an enjoyable book, wish I’d read the prequel then I would maybe understand some of the comments about previous events but apart from lack of explanation it was still enjoyable.
Murder mysteries are always good when you are given the clues but there is something that you were not aware of but could have worked it out
Full of characters some maybe a tad sketchy but let’s not complain about an excellent story well worth the read

Beautifully written and atmospheric, whilst also being an engaging whodunnit. Lesley Thomson is a very skilled writer, her characters are eccentric, yet fully rounded. Reading about Stella, Jack and the team is like meeting up with old friends. Stunningly good plot too; I was completely led down the twisting paths of red herrings and suspected everyone except the actual killer. Great theme around the #metoo movement as well; women being blamed for sexual assault. I would give 6 stars if it was possible.

A woman lies dead in a house in London in the Blitz. But she's not a war casualty.

In 21st century Tewkesbury, podcaster Roddy March is investigating the death of a 1940s pathologist. But his podcast will never be broadcast....

But Roddy has already met Stella Darnell, so the Detective's Daughter is involved, whether she likes it or not...

Another great mystery in the series

It is always a pleasure to return to this series. I have read all of them and they remind me of the best golden age crime writing. The plot of every book is well worked out, the characters are familiar yet quirky. This book is set in different surroundings and switches between past and present, because the murder at heart of the story has its roots at the beginning of WW 2. Stella finds herself in Tewkesbury where the atmosphere is very British with an Abbey, cottages, villages and lots of peculiar characters. A bit "Midsomer Murders" but a bit less predictable. A very enjoyable read.

Lesley Thomson's latest in her Detective's Daughter series has echoes of the golden age of crime, it has Stella Darnell uprooting herself from London and leaving her cleaning business, Clean Slate, and breaking off her relationship with Jack Harmon and his children. Stella has been laid low by her unresolved grief for her police officer father, Frank, and is seeking a path to come to terms with it, which is how she comes to attend The Death Cafe, a group set up to discuss death, run by retired pathologist, Felicity Branscombe. Stells has moved to Tewkesbury with the spritely and stubborn journalist, Lucie, who had loved her father. Stella is now employed as a cleaner, one of her jobs is to clean Tewkesbury Abbey, which is where she meets Roddy Marsh, only to bump into him again at her second meeting of The Death Cafe. Shortly after the meeting, she discovers a dying Roddy at the Abbey, stabbed in the back, unable to make any sense of what he is saying.

In a story that shifts from the past to the present, with the WW2 London Blitz in 1940 in which young mother, Maple Greenhill, is strangled, a case diligently investigated by DI George Cotton. When Cotton finds clear cut evidence of the murderer's identity, his career is derailed when his superiors and the establishment decide to cover up who killed Maple, because the killer is just too important to them in the war. Roddy has been working on a series of true crime podcasts under the title of The Distant Dead, looking at murder cases where the real killer has got away with it. He had claimed that he knew the real killer of pathologist, Dr Aleck Northcote, murdered in 1963, a crime for which Northcote's gambling son, Giles, was convicted at the time and hanged. Jack, and the Clean Slate staff, Jackie and Beverly, conduct a dangerous joint murders inquiry into the past and the present, with Stella and Lucie.

This is a atmospheric, twisted and suspenseful crime read from Thomson, with a wonderful cast of characters and suspects from The Death Cafe, which includes landlady, Gladys Wren, clockmaker, Clive Burgess, Abbey organist, Joy Turton and gardener, Andrea Hammond, none of whom are as they first appear. Stella once again finds herself in the all too familiar territory of murder, despite all her efforts to escape it, and reconnects with her father's old life, when a favourite colleague of his, WPC Janet Piper, becomes the police SIO of Roddy's killing. This is a terrifically entertaining crime series, this addition made all the more intense with the historical thread that relates the death of Maple and Cotton's investigation and its connections with the present day Tewkesbury murders. Many thanks to Head of Zeus for an ARC.

It was December 1940 and twenty-four-year-old Maple Greenhill had gone out for the evening 'with her friend Ida' leaving her three-year-old son, William, at home with her parents. The boy thought that Maple was his sister - it was better for the family than the shame of illegitimacy, but Maple had high hopes of putting her life (and William's) on a better footing. She was going to meet her well-to-do fiancé, hoping to persuade him to come and meet her family the following week. Later, her body would be found in the bombed-out home where he had taken her.

Jack Harmon thinks that he and Stella Darnell are 'taking a break'. Stella obviously needed some space after a particularly difficult time, but this isn't how Stella sees the situation. So far as she's concerned she and Jack have broken up. Her mother is in Sydney and Stella has taken a flat in Tewkesbury with Lucie May, the journalist, who once had an affair with her father. Her cleaning business, Clean Slate, is floundering in London, in her absence, despite the efforts of her team to keep it running, and Stella is taking ad hoc cleaning jobs in Tewkesbury, mostly associated with the cathedral.

It tells you something about Stella's state of mind that she's taken to attending the Death Café in the cathedral tearooms. It's a group of people who gather to discuss death. The facilitator is Dr Felicity Branscombe, a retired forensic pathologist and she attempts to keep order amongst Andrea Hammond, a gardener, Joy Turton, the cathedral organist, Roddy Marsh, a podcaster, Gloria Wren, a local landlady, Clive Burgess the clockmaker - and Stella. It's largely a lost cause and Stella quickly comes to realise that there are some strange relationships amongst her fellow attendees. And then Stella discovers one of them dying, in the cathedral. It's only the first death - and in some strange way, it all links back to the death of Maple Greenhill, nearly eighty years ago.

We know who killed Maple: it was Dr Aleck Northcote, the renowned forensic pathologist. Detective Inspector George Cotton, called out of retirement because of the war, knows it too and actually gets to the point of arresting Northcotte only to be over-ridden by his superiors: such an important man could not be charged with what they saw as 'the murder of a prostitute' and taken away from the war effort. It was George Cotton who would be put out to grass.

It's two years since I read The Playground Murders, the sixth book in Lesley Thomson's The Detective's Daughter series and I thought that one was the strongest yet in the series. Well, Thomson has done it again: this is another cracker. The plotting is superb: I long ago realised that it was fruitless to try and second guess as to who the killer was. With Thomson you're in safe hands - relax and enjoy a great mystery, well told. It's a book to read once to find out who did it - and then to go back and read again to find out how the author did it.

We know many of the regular characters - the employees of Clean Slate who lead double lives as talented amateur detectives. Even if you've never met them before they come off the page brilliantly. And talking of whether or not you've met them before - you could read The Distant Dead as a stand-alone but you'd get a lot more out of it if you read it as part of the series.

I'd like to thank the publishers for allowing Bookbag to have a review copy.