Dead And Gone

Inspector Thanet #15

by Dorothy Simpson

Fifteenth in the series featuring Inspector Thanet and his side-kick Lineham. High summer, and Virginia Mintar, wife of a prominent QC, wanders away from a garden party to cool down in the pool. She never returns - but her body is dredged up from the well next morning. Who was Virginia sleeping with, if not her husband? And what can Gran Mintar possibly have to hide? Thanet's progress is annoyingly obstructed by family secrets - and by fear for his own daughter and unborn grandchild druing Bridget's dangerously complicated pregnancy.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Mystery Thriller, British Literature

280 pages, Paperback

First published November 28, 1999

About the author

Dorothy Preece Simpson writes...

"I was born and brought up in South Wales, went to Bridgend Grammar School and then on to Bristol University, where I read modern languages before moving to Kent, the background of the Thanet novels, to teach French at Dartford and Erith Grammar Schools.

Moving to the Maidstone area on my marriage, I then spent several years devoting myself to bringing up my three children. During that time I trained as a marriage guidance counsellor and subsequently worked as one for thirteen years.

You may think that marriage guidance counsellor to crime writer is rather a peculiar career move, but although I didn’t realise it at the time, of course, the training I received was the best possible preparation for writing detective novels. Murder mysteries are all about relationships which go disastrously wrong and the insights I gained into what makes people tick, into their interaction and motivations, have been absolutely invaluable to DI Thanet, my series character, as have the interviewing skills I acquired during my years of counselling.

I began to write after a long illness in 1975. The success of my first book, a suspense novel called HARBINGERS OF FEAR, gave me sufficient impetus to carry me through the two rejections which followed - very disheartening at the time, but invaluable in retrospect.

It was during this period that I realised that the crime novel is of such diversity that it offers enormous scope to the writer and decided to attempt to lay the foundation for a series of detective novels in my next book. This was the THE NIGHT SHE DIED." This was the first in a 15 book series starring Detective Inspector Luke Thanet. Severe repetitive stress injury caused her to stop writing in 2000.

She is an award winning author, receiving a Silver Dagger Award from the Crime Writers' Association of Great Britain.

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new author for me with Thanet and Lineham as policemen solving murders. I enjoyed the story about Virginia being murdered by being pushed down a well. The murderer being one of the people at the informal dinner party. Her husband, sister, daughter’s smarmy fiancé or was it the doctor she was having an affair.

What shocked me was the disappearance of the other daughter Caroline four years ago. I was not expecting that ending. What an ending a witch, possible incest and a Randy young barrister.

[Julie Durnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing murder mystery of Mrs. Mintaur, found dead in their courtyard, with a tense backdrop story of Inspector Luke Thanet's daughter, diagnosed with preeclampsia, due to deliver their first grandchild at any moment. The Mintaur family is riddled with strife, and a subplot concludes with a horrific discovery. Saddened that this is the last book of the series.

[Abbey · Rating 5 out of 5]

1999, #15 Inspector Luke Thanet, rural Kent; cosy police procedural with nicely dark edges - four-and-one-half stars.

A very important lawyer’s sexy wife goes missing, and it seems to be connected with her daughter, who also went missing four years previously. With all the VIPs that might be involved, Thanet needs to tread carefully, but he’s got family matters on his mind and isn’t concentrating too well.

Another wonderful entry and, sadly, the last, in this beautifully crafted series about a quietly intelligent Inspector and his very helpful Sergeant. As always, Simpson makes the case the focal point, but the theme of Thanet’s family makes a gentle counterpoint, as these nice folks just try to lead decent lives. Her pacing is superb, characterizations spot-on, and her plots are always very tight, surprisingly darkly twisted, and always tied up cleanly at the end. Many, many writers could learn a great deal by reading her work, IMO. The entire series is highly recommended, and I wish she’d written more.

Simpson started publishing mysteries only a couple of years earlier than Caroline Graham, Deborah Crombie, and Elizabeth George, and her style is rather similar to that of Graham and Crombie - classic “smooth Brit” village mystery with a nice guy inspector as lead. Not at all trite or predictable, although very, very comfortable - the same premise runs through all the stories but somehow she manages to make each one enticing, partly by mixing Thanet’s family in very carefully. Her pacing is extraordinary - I always rush through the last couple of pages just to find out what’s happening with his family, and his worries are always “somehow” topmost in MY mind all through the solving of the case. Remarkable writing IMO.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog here in February 2001.

When the wife of a prominent lawyer goes missing at a dinner party, a police search is begun as soon as they are informed. Finding her body in a well in the garden is the beginning of a case for Simpson's detective, Inspector Thanet, which exposes an extremely dysfunctional family: distant father, mother with compulsive shopping and adultery habits, daughter with unsuitable fiancée, another daughter who disappeared four years ago with her own unsuitable boyfriend, never to be heard of again.

The Mintar family could provide material for several crime novels; they have a large number of problems and secrets. It is a case where Thanet has almost too many avenues of enquiry, and, taken by itself, the novel would be a superior if traditional mystery. Looking at in relation to the series as a whole, one aspect of Dead and Gone really stands out. Part of the mystery involves incest between a brother and sister who do not know that they are related. This theme has come up before in the Thanet series, and while it provides a variety of convincing motives for murder and other crimes, it is a device which Simpson has now unfortunately used too frequently.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really well-done British mystery series with believable recurring characters who solve the mysteries in believable ways with plenty of hard work. In this case, Thanet is called in when a local QC's wife goes missing in the middle of a pool party -- and is found dead in the well behind the house the next morning. The same woman had "lost" her daughter 4 years earlier when the girl eloped with the gardener. Are the two incidents related? No one thinks so, but Thanet is determined to find out, if only to get additional insight into the victim. There are a lot of solid suspects with varying motives and it is hard to know which way to lean -- and then the answer comes at last. Thanet complains that when the fingerprint is found which clinches the whole thing, his assistant Lineham doesn't tell him right away -- but Thanet/Simpson then keeps the reader waiting another chapter before revealing whose it is. Throughout the book, Thanet is preoccupied with his daughter who lies in the hospital being treated for preeclampsia and toxemia while awaiting the birth of her first child, so the whole book has an edge to it as you wait for shoe after shoe after shoe to drop. The conclusion of the entire book was satisfying without it being all neatly parceled up in a sugar-coating and reminded me again why I love this series.

[Damaskcat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the fifteenth and final book in this excellent police procedural series. Virginia seems to have an ideal life; a successful and devoted husband, a grown up daughter, a beautiful house and plenty of money. In the middle of the celebration of her daughter Rachel's engagement Virginia disappears. Her body is discovered the following day and she has been murdered.

DI Luke Thanet and DS Mike Lineham are sent to investigate and soon realise that Virginia's apparently perfect life hides unhappiness as well as several people who had good reason to wish her dead. They must try and sort out what is going on and discover the murderer. As they dig deeper into the lives of the people who surround the dead woman they find tensions and rivalries but are any of them bad enough to have driven someone to murder?

I really enjoyed this final volume in the series. The plot is well drawn and the author has created characters who I could believe in and for whom I felt sorry. The ending is poignant and brought tears to my eyes. I can thoroughly recommend this book and this series.

[Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the final book in the Luke Thanet series, and I’ll miss my visits with Luke, Joan, and even their daughter, Bridget. She is dealing with serious complications related to her pregnancy. Doctors have diagnosed her with preeclampsia, and that’s never a trivial situation worthy of ignoring. As you might expect, Luke and Joan feel distracted and concerned. He’s handling a hot disappearance that turns into a nasty murder, and they can’t get away when they initially get the news about her.

Virginia Mintar disappeared while hosting a dinner party. Among the guests were her teenage daughter and the daughter’s slick and glossy boyfriend. She simply disappeared from the party that night, and no one knew where she went.

They found her the next morning at the bottom of a well. Someone had bludgeoned her before tossing the body into the old well. Now it’s up to Thanet and his partner Mike Lineham to suss out a killer.

First, you should read this entire series if you can. It’s well worth the effort. Second, if you read this book, you’ll note that the conclusion will blow you away. No way will you see the solution to the various plotlines Simpson artfully weaves. This made for an excellent Wednesday night of high entertainment. I’ll never know what happened to these characters. I hope Thanet and Joan found peace and adventure in a long marriage and active years of retirement. Alas, I’ll never know for sure.

[Colin Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The wife of a local barrister goes missing, leading Inspector Luke Thanet and his trusty sidekick, Sergeant Mike Lineham, to unearth a trail of infidelity, hatred and disturbed relationships. All this with a back story of his daughter, Bridget's first pregnancy that is fraught with health issues. He also has his superintendent continually interfering and belittling him. Oh! His son Ben has finished university and his working on a VSO programme in Africa.

This is the last story in the series, and it follows the regular format of the previous stories. It was a good read. 3 stars.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Final book in Dorothy Simpson’s series about Detective Inspector Luke Thanet and DS Mike Lineham. I first read the early books back in the 1980s and recently reread and then finished the series.

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, solid British Police Procedural. Reading this mystery was like putting on my bedroom slippers: warm, comforting and familiar! This is my home reading ground for sure and I had been missing it since taking up with some other types of books lately. It wasn't an amazing read, but it was just what I needed at the moment and I enjoyed it and was happy to feel "among friends," as it were!
It also had a few surprises, not to mention a spectacularly grisly shocker, so it was by no means a "cozy." The mysteries (there were really two) were satisfactorily solved by police work and logic. It did cast another light on "polite" English society, making one shake one's head at what people may be hiding for fear of position and a keeping a good name.
Virginia Mintar, mother of two daughters, one missing for 4 years and the other one newly engaged to a man of dubious character, is found dead in a deep well in her own kitchen courtyard following a dinner party with tense overtones. In the best of British mystery traditions, everyone's a suspect. Although the perpetrator is found and duly brought to justice, it is the actions and choices that someone else made many years ago which are held to be morally responsible for much heartache and suffering.

[Inez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the fifteenth and final book in this excellent police procedural series. I have now read all the books in the series which has seen me through "Lockdown 2020!"
Virginia seems to have an ideal life; a successful and devoted husband, a grown up daughter, a beautiful house and plenty of money. In the middle of the celebration of her daughter Rachel's engagement Virginia disappears. Her body is discovered the following day and she has been murdered.
I liked the way there were tie ins with the ongoing life of Inspector Luke Thanet's family life from bridget age three to Bridget expecting her own baby.
I am now looking for inspiration - what can I read next....
The Killings at Badger's Drift by Caroline Graham is a possibility.

[Maureen Vincent-Northam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspector Thanet and Sergeant Lineham are called in to investigate the disappearance of the wife of an eminent QC. When she’s found dead next morning, family and neighbours who’d attended a dinner party the night before, become suspects. And there are many who aren’t exactly broken hearted at her demise. Add to this mixture a daughter who went AWOL years earlier and you have the basis for a good yarn.

Dead and Gone is a police procedural and I’ll admit to not being the greatest fan of these. However, the plot heats up in the latter part of the story and the conclusion is very satisfying.

[Jenna Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to believe fifteen or more years have passed since first finding the Titles In Dorothy Simpson's Inspector Luke Thanet's British police procedural series - always first-rate. So sad that illness forced her to stop writing altogether. A mystery reader's loss but of course wish her continued improved health.

[Pat Beard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sorry to see the end of this series. The mysteries are first rate. And I felt like I got to know Thanet's family and looked in on them as they grew up and faced milestones in their lives. The extra emphasis on characters and their family and interpersonal relationships within the police force really made it special.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy this series.

The detectives aren’t always fighting. No one decides instantly who’s guilty. They work slowly trying various scenarios. There’s no violence or suspense. It’s realistic.

[Kaye · Rating 5 out of 5]

so sad that this is the last in the series. Quite an ending!

[Tamsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The end of the series :( and probably the most dramatic ending yet (although, tbh, Simpson: a second novel that ends in an incest motive? Tsk tsk), and the most evidence-based investigation. It felt like Simpson wasn't in the know that this would be her last in the series. She always ends Thanet novels the same way though, so there were still feels (and the sentence you know is coming totally adds to the cozy feel of the series): "At this moment, he thought, there was nowhere on earth that he would rather be." I mean, what detective novel have you ever read that ended so self-satisfied in a non-pretentious way? I wish Simpson had wrote more of these; I've read elsewhere that an illness kept her from more. Ah well, I've read them all now and glad I discovered this rather obscure British procedural author.

Much of the 15-book series was a three-star for me; I liked these, they weren't earth-shattering, but they were cozy and entertaining over the course of the last seven months. The standouts were Element of Doubt, Doomed to Die, No Laughing Matter, and A Day for Dying... yeah, titles were not Simpson's thing. Adding up all my stars (no half stars calculated), it looks like the series got an average of 3.3 stars from me, which is about right.

[Kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I began the Inspector Thanet series with #11, found in the used-book section of my bookstore. I was drawn into the fine and deep descriptions of characters and relationships, into the delightful working bond between Thanet and his partner, Sergeant Lineham, and into those of their private lives. A finely meshing plot, thoughtful managing of clues, and a satisfying conclusion—all these sent me on reading others in the series. I found them all to be as rewarding, really good reads.

After being through nearly all of the 15, I picked up this last one. It was so gross I almost didn’t finish it. I cannot imagine that after 14 splendidly satisfying murder plots, fresh insights into human relationships, and gradually developing and growing characters (Thanet’s daughter, Bridget, is 3 in Book 1 and having her own baby by the finale here in Book 15) that Simpson would concentrate on so much ugliness and nasty, destructive behavior.

Luckily, I had left #1 until last, and discovered the beginning working relationship between Thanet and Lineham, marveled at the development it took through the series. I saw the start of the little formulas that were so comfortable to find in every book. I enjoyed the start of a really worthwhile series—at least until this last book in it. I actually wish I had never read this level of nasty.

[Marybeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

The final Luke Thanet book was a great relief because it felt more like one of the early books rather than the more recent ones I've read and not enjoyed as much. In this one the mystery once again becomes the center of attention, even with a potential family crisis on hand. I felt like we'd returned to the beginning of the series in terms of tone, characterization, and plot details. The resolution was a complete surprise to me this time, and the twist at the end satisfied my mystery-loving heart. This was a worthy conclusion to a series of stories that sometimes left me wanting more and other times left me feeling let down. I do recommend it if you've read at least a few of the early stories. You won't know anything about the characters, despite the continuing repetition of previous information, unless you've read part of the series.

[Cinnamon Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely end to a brilliant series

Every day each of us goes about our own business never thinking that one small action we take or don’t take may have a wonderful, OR a catastrophic effect on the rest of our life or the lives of the people we love. Sometimes on people we don’t even know.
It doesn’t matter who we are or our status in life. Every saint, every psychopath, every run of the mill human being can, given the right set of circumstances, change the world. For good or for evil, and in as benign or as harmful a manner as possible. You never know how the things you do can have the seeds of life or death inside. This wonderful book is a perfect illustration of that fact.

[Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alas, this is the last Inspector Thanet mystery. Virginia, wife of an important barrister, has never recovered from the elopement of her daughter, and now she has been found dead. Circumstances do show it is impossible her death was suicide. Virginia's uncontrolled behavior has created a great many enemies, and one of those enemies seems to have lost control in response. In spite of Virginia's blatant misbehavior, there are a lot of family secrets that will have to be dug up. A lot of people are going to suffer the results of this investigation. I will - regretfully - skip the spoilers.

Read 2 times

[Richard Dominguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this murder mystery, it also had a missing person mixed into the fray. The story is well written and beautifully paced.
The characters are marvelous and keep the story moving and the reader guessing as to the "who done it". Along with the characters the setting and atmosphere are well detailed without being over done, just enough to give the reader a real sense of them.
Dorothy Simpson (the author) is no longer with us, having passed away in 2020. She left us with 15 books in this series (Inspector Thanet), this one being the last one.
For me hopefully finding the other 14 won't be too difficult....

[Mark Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This tale covers the murder of a very unlikeable woman and also the disappearance of her eldest daughter four years beforehand. So it’s kind of two whodunnits in one, with an often entertaining cast of characters. Inspector Thanet and his partner, Sergeant Lineham, must sort out the truth and find sufficient evidence to convict one of the many people with both motive and opportunity of actually committing murder, a task made more difficult due to the family secrets they unearth. I may well seek out other titles in this series whose two main characters make a good team.

[Tuti · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.25 stars

I am pretty sure that this is the author's last book.

Mrs. Virginia Mintar went missing in the middle of a house party. In the mean time, Bridget was having a difficult pregnancy, which distracted Thanet somewhat.

I am glad this time it's not about detailed timeline, but the book feels long. Details of finding were not shared until they arrested the person, which I always find a bit annoying because I didn't have the same amount of facts to make deduction (or guesses).

Marah Swain was just gross.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really strong end to the series. Part of the mystery wasn't much of a surprise, but the other part was. I love the style in which these books are written - it's kind of a throwback, and you really need to pay attention to the dialogue. They're just the right length, and there is just enough information on the detective's home life to keep them interesting and relateable.

I am sad this is the final installment in the series.

[Gabriela Galescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful vacation reading

Enough twists and turns to keep one engaged, likable characters and really good pace of writing. That is, I really appreciated the fact that alternating police investigation and procedures with personal musings of the characters and personality lives of investigators is flawless. Not taking that for granted in murder mystery books, so I really appreciated the way Dorothy Simpson does it.

[Mimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

So loved the characters, loved the writing. So why 3 stars? Well, it's the Brian Friel theory of writing. Nothing actually happens. The cops go from one home to another but all the action has happened in the past or off stage per se. There is a discovery at the end but even so.......I kept hoping for something besides all this running back and forth,....Ah well, a nice little before bed mystery.

[Donna Nincic · Rating 1 out of 5]

Behavior of too many characters made no sense; at least one character dropped about 2/3 of the way through the novel, when they had been prominently featured before. Several grammatical errors, and many repeated descriptions of characters. Few surprises at the end; I had already guessed much of it before the final scenes.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

My mystery book club selected this detective story set in Kent and introduced me to Inspector Thanet. It was a classis mystery that kept me guessing until the very end. I will look for more books in this series.

[Alli Garrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

The final book. Exceptional character development and mystery. I enjoyed Thanet's quirks: his ill ease at first seeing the victim, his need to play cat and mouse with his leadership, and his intuitive solve for most crimes.