Death on the Thames

Louise Mangan #3

by Alan Johnson

The fast-paced and thrilling third novel in the Detective Louise Mangan series, set in Hampton Court just outside London.


Praise for Alan Johnson's

'Richard Osman, here's a bullet with your name on it' The Times

'A punchy thriller' Irish Independent

'More layers than a filo pastry' The Sun

'A fast-paced who-done-what' SAGA Magazine

'Featuring espionage, the Russian Mafia and a gorgeous female on a train with a deadly secret, the tantalising plot has set Alan up for dominance of the bestseller charts for years to come' Fiona Phillips

'Is there no limit to his talents? . . . I absolutely loved Alan's new thriller, it's brilliant' Hunter Davies

'Johnson's writing style is easy, relaxed, self-deprecating . . . impressive' Observer

'Johnson writes wonderfully' Telegraph

'This boy can write . . .' The Spectator

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 28, 2024

About the author

Alan Arthur Johnson (born 17 May 1950) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for the Home Department from 2009 to 2010 and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2011. A member of the Labour Party, Johnson served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hull West and Hessle from 1997 to 2017.

Reviews

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alan Johnson moved from writing award-winning memoirs to writing crime fiction in 2021 with the publication of The Late Train to Gipsy Hill, a book I very much enjoyed.

In the first half of this third book in the series, we travel back to 1999 to meet the young Louise Mangan, then a Detective Constable. Despite being obviously capable, she is experiencing the persistent and ‘casual’ misogyny that pervaded the Metropolitan Police at the time. (Many would argue it still does, and this is picked up again in the second part of the book.) Louise is frustrated at being sidelined from major operations and having her suspicions that the man arrested for a series of assaults on women may not be the culprit. Louise decides to pursue her own enquiries but the success of a major police operation to close down a drug smuggling operation sees her moved off the case despite, in her mind, there being plenty of loose ends still to be tied up.

One of the interesting things about this part of the book is how much that we now take for granted in police investigations was in its infancy in 1999. For example, the DNA database was still regarded as ‘nascent technology’ and DNA samples were not routinely checked. And the Metropolitan police were only just beginning to use electronic forms of communication, in the face of some resistance.

The second half of the book moves us on twenty years, to 2019. This is where I came a little unstuck because, although I own a copy of the second book, One of Our Ministers is Missing, I haven’t yet read it. Between the first and this third book, Louise Mangan’s career has obviously progressed significantly. There have also been big changes in her private life since 1999. The latter go pretty much unexplored with some surprising omissions. The misogyny Louise experienced in the first part of the book, although less widespread, is still there and, mirroring recent events in the Metropolitan police, there are officers whose conduct really should mean they have no place in the police force. Louise is also frustrated about the Met’s record on tackling violence against women and girls, again reflecting contemporary concerns.

The author really ups the twists and turns of the plot, and the thriller element in the final quarter of the book. Louise’s persistence – and some intelligence from an unlikely source – eventually leads to a group of dangerous criminals being brought to book and a longstanding mystery being resolved. And perhaps never believe what you’re told unless you’ve double-checked it, even triple-checked it, is sage advice? Louise also discovers startling evidence of an operation sanctioned at the highest level which raises the question: can the end ever justifies the means?

Death on the Thames is another well-crafted police procedural that left me hoping Louise can be persuaded against retiring for a little while longer.

[Naheeda Ahmad · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book to read, the ending was surprising.

[Jo-anne Atkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1999 young detective Louise Mangan is involved in the hunt for a sex attacker based around Hampton Court. Following a lead she visits Tagg's Island, a community of houseboats, but when a high profile TV personality is murdered nearby her colleagues believe they have got their man and the investigation is wound down. The island itself was at the centre of an organised crime gang with a far reach and twenty years later, after a fire, Louise reopens the case.
This is very much a classic British police thriller with the perspective of being written by an insider. Although some of the characters are the same as Johnson's previous novel there is no expectation that the reader treats this as a follow-up. It's nicely plotted with a couple of different strands and I did like the focus on violence and prejudice against women. I wasn't overly convinced about the 'Jill Dando' aspect but am willing to forgive that as it is very readable.

[Eightlegs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy Johnson's writing and have read others in this series and enjoyed this one too. However some parts felt a bit dated and some elements of the treatment of women in senior police roles made it feel clunky in places.

[Jayne Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous, great paced crime thriller! I totally connected with Louise as she navigated through the plot, well written & entertaining with very interesting developments!

[Lucinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting plot, well-paced and a good read.

[Sarah Wade · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a really gripping story, made all the more intriguing by its similarity in part to the Jill Dando murder. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Eyejaybee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always enjoyed politicians' memoirs, and Alan Johnson’s first volume of autobiography, This Boy, must rank as one of the best I have read. I was particularly keen to read it as Johnson had, briefly, been Secretary of State in my Department. It's true that, throughout his short period in the Department for Education, he had been conspicuous principally by his virtual invisibility but I still thought that he might have some juicy morsel to dispense, with which to whet the salacious appetites of my fellow functionaries. As it happens, that book drew to a close before his political career had even started, and while I enjoyed the subsequent volumes (Please Mr Postman and The Long and Winding Road), they didn’t quite match the first one for its dramatic impact.

Since his retirement from front line politics, Johnson has gone a considerable way towards acquiring ‘national treasure’ status, partially as a consequence of the volumes of memoirs mentioned above, which show a great triumph over considerable early adversity, but also from his pragmatic and open approach, and his self-deprecating sense of humour.

Since then he has reinvented himself as a crime writer, and this is his third novel to feature Louise Mangan, now at the lofty rank of Detective Chief Superintendent. The novel opens, however, back in 1999, when Louise was a relative newcomer to the force, and still in the rank of Constable. As the book opens, she is engaged in an operation designed to catch a man who has been assaulting women in Southwest London. A man is arrested … indeed, Louise herself arrests him, but owing to the odd circumstances, she is never wholly satisfied that he is the actual assailant.

Meanwhile, preparations are under way for a monthly television programme highlighting prominent crimes. Although the programme has reached its current popularity as a consequence of close collaboration between the police and the programme makers, an issue has arisen. The producers want to lead with a story exposing the leader of a gang responsible for a massive proportion of the capital’s drug deals, but the police are threatening to withdraw their cooperation. And then the glamorous female presenter of the show is shot dead on her own doorstep. There are obvious resonances with the real murder of Jill Dando, who had presented Crimewatch for the BBC. Those similarities are carried further in the book, cleverly woven through the main plotline of the story.

Johnson’s ministerial career included a brief stint as Home Secretary, and he clearly draws on insights culled from those days in his portrayal of the working relationships (and especially the jealousies and resentments) between officers in the top echelons of the Metropolitan Police Service. He also portrays some of the sexism and racism with which many officers have to contend, and a lot of issues that are currently drawing media attention are brought into focus.

I particularly enjoyed Johnson’s deployment of his local knowledge. A lot of the action of the novel takes place on Tagg’s Island, a small island in the Thames near Hampton Court. Having never heard of this, I wonder ed whether Johnson had made it up to suit the requirements of the plot, but it does exist, and from my foray there over the Easter weekend, it is clear that Johnson knows it well, as he captures it very accurately.

This is a light-hearted yet still plausible novel, and highly entertaining.

[Rachel N · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's 1999 and Detective Constable Louise Mangan is helping chase down a cyclist suspected of a series of attacks on women. Her chase leads her to a community of houseboats, a place which seems full of mysteries. Twenty years later and a return to an unsolved murder from the time brings the now DCI Mangan back to the area and into the path of a wider series of crimes.

I'm a big fan of Alan Johnson's autobiographies so I was looking forward to reading this but I'm afraid I wasn't quite so keen. The plot was interesting and his past position of Home Secretary certainly makes some of his comments on policing over the years interesting, but his writing just wasn't quite as compelling for me in fiction. Some it was a little repetitive and he tended to get a little bogged down in details of things which didn't really need further explanation, plus the characters weren't entirely convincing to me - the main character seemed to be a little oblivious and too accepting to convince as someone destined for the top as the guilty party was not hard to guess.

In the acknowledgements, there is a line about it being 'a work of fiction, none of it is true, not even the bits where readers may detect a similarity to actual events' but a subplot of a murdered female host of a tv crime programme is so obviously based on the murder of Jill Dando, it's unavoidable. Everything is almost identical to the shooting of the host of Crimewatch in 1999, right down to the year, the medic fiance, the loner suspect convicted then released, the possible links to Eastern European criminals, it's unsolved status.

This was an enjoyable enough read but not quite as good as his non fiction for me, I'm afraid.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in return for an honest review.
#DeathontheThames #NetGalley

[Elaine Tomasso · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like to thank Netgalley and Headline for an advance copy of Death on the Thames, the third novel to feature Detective Louise Mangan of the Met, set in 1999 and 2019.

In 1999 Louise is a rookie detective and a spate of attacks leads her to Tagg’s Island on the Thames, a quiet spot for houseboats and plenty of secrets. In 2019 a fire brings DCS Louise Mangan back to Tagg’s Island for some truth.

I can’t say that Death on the Thames really caught or held my attention. It has too many threads and almost no early resolutions or reveals to keep the reader turning the pages. It is split almost equally between 1999 and 2019 with the 1999 section subsiding into a morass of unanswered questions and unresolved cases, including a high level drug dealer’s identity, the murder of a young woman, the identity of a sexual predator and the murder of a TV presenter, which mirrors almost exactly the murder of Jill Dando, a real life unsolved crime. To be fair the tempo picks up in the second half with a tense tale of undercover work, that has no relation to the events of the first half, while the events of the first half limp along beside it until a few big twists give it a certain resolution.

I am a big fan of police procedurals. I like the logic and order in them. I found that aspect of the novel fascinating in the way decisions are made and hard truths faced. I was less impressed with some of the bias in the novel with potential suspects’ comments taken at face value and not questioned.

I think that Death on the Thames has a good premise and some interesting plot lines, but the execution doesn’t suit my tastes. I prefer a more straightforward narrative that allows me to get immersed.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Death on the Thames by Alan Johnson is the third book in the Detective Mangan thriller series.
In short, the book begins with a young Detective Constable Louise Mangan and a case which she was involved with and which didn’t have a satisfying conclusion for her. Twenty years later a fire brings Detective Superintendent Mangan back to the same island reinvigorating her curiosity to that case twenty years ago.
Well I’ve read all three books in this series, all hugely enjoyable…Alan is simply a great storyteller. Death on the Thames is a classic British thriller, a rollercoaster ride containing many threads which all come together neatly in the end…satisfyingly twisty and clever. It’s one of those books which just grips you, loved it. I liked the way Alan sprinkled a few herbs into the plot…using Sage, Basil and Rosemary as characters! And creating a character in the book, a BBC reporter having the same initials as a past BBC presenter with a similar story! I’m looking forward to reading more from Alan.
Big thanks to Alan Johnson, Headline and NetGalley for this eARC which I chose to read in return for my honest review.

[Saffy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved Alan Johnson’s non fiction memoirs but this is the first of his three novels I’ve read. Death on the Thames features DC Louise Mangan whose investigation into sexual assaults on women in 1999 leads her to the exclusive Taggs island near Hampton Court in London. The second half of the novel moves forward 20 years when Louise, now a senior police officer in the Met is back on Tagg’s island investigating a houseboat fire.
This is an excellent, well plotted and original thriller, Johnson brings his political and policing knowledge to the novel and it’s written in a compelling style with short chapters that kept me reading. I loved the character of Louise and her relationships with her colleagues. The dual timeline works really well to bring the various strands of the plot together. Johnson covers the treatment of women within the Met and shows how things have moved on for women over 20 years but there is still a long way to go.
Highly recommended. 4.5 stars

[john r s baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third of Alan Johnson's Louise Mangan books I have read and once again he has confirmed that he is more than a famous name making a few bucks.
It was clear from his own autobiographical series that he is a good writer (more please Alan!) and he has an easy going, humorous and entertaining style which makes the pages flow easily.
This coupled with an entertaining plot makes for a great read.
The plot is delivered in two parts; the hunt for a sex offender in 1999 which as a junior DC Louise is prevented from fully investigating; and a review of the case in 2019 which as a DCI she is allowed to leave.
Alongside this there is an ongoing drug gangs story which is being managed by undercover detective work and which Louise and, especially her new graduate Alex become intrinsically involved in.
You are kept engaged until the end when all stories across both time periods are cleverly tied together.
Well worth a read!

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1999 Louise Mangan is a Met Police Detective Constable involved in a hunt for a sexual predator who attacks women using his bicycle to escape from them. This search is intertwined with a BBC programme called Crimesolve which is fronted by “Jenny Daniels” - a thinly disguised Jill Dando. Throw in a drug cartel operating from the same area as the attacker, and the result is police raids and murder. Louise is also dealing with misogyny on a daily basis.

Roll forward 20 years, and Mangan is now an Assistant Commissioner heading a specialist detective unit. She decides to reopen the cold case into the attacks and murder of one of the victims, which she doggedly pursues. There’s an unexpected ending, revealing the identity of the drug overlord from 1999, and separately the mystery murderer is identified but not caught…

There’s a long running thread in the book about a mysterious houseboat owner, which I guessed correctly early. But that didn’t spoil a good book.

Very enjoyable.

[zoe Hitchen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is book three in the Detective Louise Mangan series .
This thriller is a cracking read and it keeps you guessing right until the very end .
The book starts in 1999 when Louise is a young detective constable and is on the hunt for a cyclist who is committing sexual assaults on women.
She sees a cyclist ride into a place called Tagg Island which is a community of house boats . Louise can sense that all is not as it seems but can’t find the cyclist but has a gut feeling this is the man they need to speak to.
Twenty years later Louise finds herself back on the island when there is a fire on a house boat . Is it all as it first appears?
This book has everything sometimes the plot was complex but not too clever to understand, plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader interested.
Altogether a great read and highly recommended!
Thanks to NetGalley and Headline.

[Liz Barnsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third book in the Louise Mangan series and I've enjoyed all of them.

This is easy reading with a great atmosphere and a beautifully presented setting. There are several plots weaving in and out of each other and like the others it is a page turner.

What I call police procedural plus in that strictly speaking it's a police procedural but a superior one both in writing and character.

Also now I want to live on a houseboat.

I recommend this series if you like fairly gentle crime but with a bit of a bite.

[Christine Rennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Death on the Thames by Alan Johnson is the writer’s third novel in the Detective Louise Mangan series.
It covers a series of deaths and a drug empire which covers country wide network and all within Hampton Court,London.
Louise Mangan is a young police woman and then later a detective in London, when events in her early years coincide with her later years as a policewoman.
A very intricate and involved story covering many years in the detective serving role.
Highly recommended

[Annarella · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third in a classic police procedural series and I thoroughly enjoyed it as it's well plotted, entertaining, and Louise, the FMC, is clever and interesting.
I appreciated this twisty and solid, it kept me guessing and surprising.
Happy I read it, now I will read the rest of the series
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

[maria abu shady · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have just finished all 3 books in the series read consecutively over a couple of weeks. Relatable characters and interesting plots. Managed to guess one of the twists quite early on but the last one didn’t see it coming! Hope there is a 4th book soon. Meanwhile I’m going to delve into his auto-biographies

[Pauline Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast moving but too many blandly drawn characters. So difficult to follow at times. Quite accurate I would imagine re describing police operations due to Johnson’s post in government. Rather forced and implausible at times although I enjoyed the twist at the end

[John Beddow · Rating 5 out of 5]

very enjoyable

An enjoyable easy read, lots of twists and turns in the plot , now waiting for Alan’s next book having read an enjoyed his autobiography and the other Louise Mangan books.

[Kenn Coates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Death in the Thames

Another satisfying mystery from Alan Johnson; I didn't click straightaway that the characters were some of the same as in One of Our Ministers is Missing, but I'm hoping to see them again in another story..

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read each of the Alan Johnson thrillers/police procedurals and think this is the best yet - the writing has got better each time and this has a pacy story, engaging lead character and wry humour. I didn't see the twist at the end coming. A good read.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

The least engaging out of the series so far for me. Lots of different threads; became disjointed and confusing in parts. I enjoyed exploring Louise's 80s police career as well as her current Commissioner role.
The ending was good however and did explain various parts to the plot.

[Peter Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

As with the other books in this series I loved it, a nice couple of twists at the end and strong characters.

[Nicky Cook · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would have been 4 stars because I did enjoy reading it but thought the Crime programme presenter's murder was an unnecessary storyline.

[K Yiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellently crafted crime thriller. Kept me on edge until the very end. Packed with plenty of twists and a killer ending (if you pardon the pun) a wonderful and enjoyable read!

[Caroline Ingvaldsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third Louise Mangan police procedural is clearly written, plot driven and well paced.

[Helrj · Rating 5 out of 5]

And he is back on form, this was an entertaining and enjoyable read with just the right amount of twists and turns

[Verity Halliday · Rating 5 out of 5]

Death on the Thames is the third book by former MP Alan Johnson featuring police detective Louise Mangan. It has a dual timeline story split between 1999 when Louise is a young married DC and 2019 when Louise is a very senior detective reaching the end of her career at the Met.

The plot clearly draws heavy inspiration from the real-life unsolved murder of BBC Crimewatch presenter Jill Dando, but also weaves in a high-stakes drug smuggling plot and observations about sexism in the police force.

A properly good police procedural with an engaging protagonist, highly recommended.