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The Detective's Daughter #1
The Detective's Daughter
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.
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: DI Darnell must have copied them when he retired from the force. Stella knows she should destroy them. Instead, she opens the box, and starts to read...
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.
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: DI Darnell must have copied them when he retired from the force. Stella knows she should destroy them. Instead, she opens the box, and starts to read...
472 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2013
698 people are currently reading
2893 people want to read
About the author
Lesley Thomson
30 books174 followersLesley Thomson was born in 1958 and grew up in London. She went to Holland Park Comprehensive and the Universities of Brighton and Sussex. Her novel A Kind of Vanishing won The People's Book Prize in 2010. Lesley combines writing with teaching creative writing. She lives in Lewes with her partner.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 472 reviews
February 26, 2014
This I my first review here, and it is written in some frustration. This book made me reconsider my lifelong mantra that I must finish every book I start (ridiculous I know!). This novel could have been written in less than a quarter of the words, even considering the attempt at an elaborate plot.
I was immediately put off by the over description, apparently 'blue t-shirt' or 'musky aftershave' simply will not do, as Thomson proceeds to over egg the already heavily egged pudding with her use of "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe T-shirt" and "Gillette Series Aftershave Splash Cool Wave...hair smelling of Boots anti-dandruff men's shampoo" for no apparent reason. It is for this reason I was very quickly made to dislike the main character (and no not because she was called Stella) but because any person who "identified Lavender and Vanilla from Glade's Relaxing Moments Collection" and "had been weighing up their sale offer on 36-litre mop buckets with heavy duty wringers" wouldn't strike me as the type i'd invite round for a cup of tea, skittles and high quality chat (oh and yes I am aware she ran a cleaning business...
but really?!).
To cut a long story short, which frankly I could have done, simply avoid this book unless you suffer from dreadful insomnia and have ran out of barbiturates, in which case it would come highly recommended.
N
I was immediately put off by the over description, apparently 'blue t-shirt' or 'musky aftershave' simply will not do, as Thomson proceeds to over egg the already heavily egged pudding with her use of "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe T-shirt" and "Gillette Series Aftershave Splash Cool Wave...hair smelling of Boots anti-dandruff men's shampoo" for no apparent reason. It is for this reason I was very quickly made to dislike the main character (and no not because she was called Stella) but because any person who "identified Lavender and Vanilla from Glade's Relaxing Moments Collection" and "had been weighing up their sale offer on 36-litre mop buckets with heavy duty wringers" wouldn't strike me as the type i'd invite round for a cup of tea, skittles and high quality chat (oh and yes I am aware she ran a cleaning business...
but really?!).
To cut a long story short, which frankly I could have done, simply avoid this book unless you suffer from dreadful insomnia and have ran out of barbiturates, in which case it would come highly recommended.
N
August 21, 2013
I found this to be a frustrating read : enough interest to keep me reading, but too many flaws to keep me from enjoying it.. The author has a very distinctive voice and phrasing, and some of the scenes depicting loneliness and unease were very well done, as was the sense of place and atmosphere. The book is very much a character study of Stella and Jack, and a lot of time is spent on their feelings, relationship and past experiences. Unfortunately, I could not warm up to either of them and found them to be more of a collection of quirks and artifice than real people. Terry was more real to me and much more interesting, Mrs Ramsey as well. I think this book needed a good editor, it lags and drags in places.
April 16, 2018
I'll start out this review by saying that the writing reminded me a lot of that of Ruth Rendell. You can't get much better praise from me, as she was one of my favorite authors EVER!
"The Detective's Daughter" has the feel of a police procedural mixed with a psychological thriller, though neither is in fact true. What it IS is an excellent start to a mystery series that I plan to follow avidly. Since the sixth novel in the series has just been published, I have some serious catching up to do.
July 1981. Just two days before the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana a young woman was murdered on the banks of the Thames near Hammersmith Bridge. Her name was Kate Rokesmith and she was the mother of a four-year-old boy. He was with her when the murder took place - playing with his vintage toy train near the water's edge.
Her husband Hugh was suspected of the crime, but nothing was ever proven. He lived with the suspicion for the rest of his life. Their little son, Jonathan Rokesmith was severely traumatised and later was sent off to boarding school where, through a bureaucratic mix-up, he was called Justin. His mother's murder was never solved.
The detective in charge of the murder inquiry was named Terry Darnell. It was the one case that lingered in D.I. Darnell's mind throughout his entire career with the police. He was obsessed with solving the murder even after he retired, up until the January day in 2011 when he died.
Terry was divorced. A not uncommon condition for a police detective inspector. For he was a good police detective, and the good ones put the job first - before everything else. At the time of his divorce his daughter, Stella, was just seven years old. Stella and her father had gotten along well in the brief times they spent together. Terry loved his little daughter who shared many of his personal traits. After the divorce, they saw less of each other and those times were often sabotaged by the 'job'. Stella grew to resent Terry and his perceived abandonment of her.
At the time of her father's death in 2011 Stella Darnell is forty-four years old. Her relationship with her Dad had been under strain for years. When she is told of his death, she remains detached, aloof, stoic. Stella Darnell runs a cleaning company called "Clean Slate". A single businesswoman, she has a sharp intellect and methodical methods which makes her company successful and in high demand. As Terry's next of kin, it falls to her to clean out his house after his death. In the attic she finds all of the file boxes pertaining to Katherine Rokesmith's murder. As she prepares to shred them, something piques her interest and she begins to read...
"It was extraordinary how trusting people were. It gave people like him freedom."
Jack Harmon is an eccentric character. By night he drives trains in London's renowned underground. By day he walks the streets of London - and I mean ALL of them. Also, he enters other people's houses unbeknownst to them. Often when they were at home. He calls these unsuspecting people his 'Hosts'.
Jack begins to work for Stella Darnell as one of her cleaners. He is unlike her usual hires. He is unkempt and works to his own schedule.
"Jack was the best cleaner Stella had ever hired
and she reminded herself not to tell him this."
Despite their mutual distrust, Stella and Jack become friends. Their loneliness and disguised vulnerability bond them. His eccentricities both annoy her and interest her. He seems to have an obsession with some statuary near St. Peter's Church in Hammersmith. The statue is called "The leaning woman". He has an aversion to a certain shade of green. So much so that he becomes sick when he sees it.
Stella enlists Jack's aid in clearing out her father's house. It comes about that together they begin to investigate the Rokesmith case which so obsessed Stella's father.
"She was overtaken by a determination to bring Kate's killer to justice as once, years ago, Terry had promised to do."
I have to say that I enjoyed every minute of this (rather long) mystery. Stella, though not a particularly warm person, evoked empathy in the reader. The mystery itself snagged my interest at the beginning and I just had to follow it to its conclusion. Jack Harmon was an odd character whose personality was both sympathetic and more than a tad creepy.
This is definitely a character-driven mystery. These are the best kind in my book. It is a novel of love and the damage it can do. A novel of revenge, remorse, and regret.
Highly recommended!
I received a complimentary digital ARC of this novel from the publisher, Head of Zeus, via NetGalley. This review is my thanks to them.
"The Detective's Daughter" has the feel of a police procedural mixed with a psychological thriller, though neither is in fact true. What it IS is an excellent start to a mystery series that I plan to follow avidly. Since the sixth novel in the series has just been published, I have some serious catching up to do.
July 1981. Just two days before the wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana a young woman was murdered on the banks of the Thames near Hammersmith Bridge. Her name was Kate Rokesmith and she was the mother of a four-year-old boy. He was with her when the murder took place - playing with his vintage toy train near the water's edge.
Her husband Hugh was suspected of the crime, but nothing was ever proven. He lived with the suspicion for the rest of his life. Their little son, Jonathan Rokesmith was severely traumatised and later was sent off to boarding school where, through a bureaucratic mix-up, he was called Justin. His mother's murder was never solved.
The detective in charge of the murder inquiry was named Terry Darnell. It was the one case that lingered in D.I. Darnell's mind throughout his entire career with the police. He was obsessed with solving the murder even after he retired, up until the January day in 2011 when he died.
Terry was divorced. A not uncommon condition for a police detective inspector. For he was a good police detective, and the good ones put the job first - before everything else. At the time of his divorce his daughter, Stella, was just seven years old. Stella and her father had gotten along well in the brief times they spent together. Terry loved his little daughter who shared many of his personal traits. After the divorce, they saw less of each other and those times were often sabotaged by the 'job'. Stella grew to resent Terry and his perceived abandonment of her.
At the time of her father's death in 2011 Stella Darnell is forty-four years old. Her relationship with her Dad had been under strain for years. When she is told of his death, she remains detached, aloof, stoic. Stella Darnell runs a cleaning company called "Clean Slate". A single businesswoman, she has a sharp intellect and methodical methods which makes her company successful and in high demand. As Terry's next of kin, it falls to her to clean out his house after his death. In the attic she finds all of the file boxes pertaining to Katherine Rokesmith's murder. As she prepares to shred them, something piques her interest and she begins to read...
"It was extraordinary how trusting people were. It gave people like him freedom."
Jack Harmon is an eccentric character. By night he drives trains in London's renowned underground. By day he walks the streets of London - and I mean ALL of them. Also, he enters other people's houses unbeknownst to them. Often when they were at home. He calls these unsuspecting people his 'Hosts'.
Jack begins to work for Stella Darnell as one of her cleaners. He is unlike her usual hires. He is unkempt and works to his own schedule.
"Jack was the best cleaner Stella had ever hired
and she reminded herself not to tell him this."
Despite their mutual distrust, Stella and Jack become friends. Their loneliness and disguised vulnerability bond them. His eccentricities both annoy her and interest her. He seems to have an obsession with some statuary near St. Peter's Church in Hammersmith. The statue is called "The leaning woman". He has an aversion to a certain shade of green. So much so that he becomes sick when he sees it.
Stella enlists Jack's aid in clearing out her father's house. It comes about that together they begin to investigate the Rokesmith case which so obsessed Stella's father.
"She was overtaken by a determination to bring Kate's killer to justice as once, years ago, Terry had promised to do."
I have to say that I enjoyed every minute of this (rather long) mystery. Stella, though not a particularly warm person, evoked empathy in the reader. The mystery itself snagged my interest at the beginning and I just had to follow it to its conclusion. Jack Harmon was an odd character whose personality was both sympathetic and more than a tad creepy.
This is definitely a character-driven mystery. These are the best kind in my book. It is a novel of love and the damage it can do. A novel of revenge, remorse, and regret.
Highly recommended!
I received a complimentary digital ARC of this novel from the publisher, Head of Zeus, via NetGalley. This review is my thanks to them.
February 1, 2019
Got lost at times with this book won her second book on goodreads reading it next just didnt like going back and forth lets see what next book is like.
September 16, 2013
Nope. Not the worst novel I've ever read or started to read. But pretty poor.
I heard that Elmore Leonard's advice to beginning writers was to leave out the bits that readers would skip over. There is a lot left in this book to skip over, and that should have been left out.
It took me three tries to get through this one. I do wonder how some authors manage to get their work accepted for publication. And I also wonder how it is that some readers (who I assume have read a lot of books) rate this one above average, or even outstanding. They experienced something different to what I did.
Not for me. I'll avoid this author in future.
I heard that Elmore Leonard's advice to beginning writers was to leave out the bits that readers would skip over. There is a lot left in this book to skip over, and that should have been left out.
It took me three tries to get through this one. I do wonder how some authors manage to get their work accepted for publication. And I also wonder how it is that some readers (who I assume have read a lot of books) rate this one above average, or even outstanding. They experienced something different to what I did.
Not for me. I'll avoid this author in future.
October 23, 2013
Kate Rokesmith died on Monday, 27 July 1981 and her case would go unsolved into the cold case files. But detective Terence Christopher Darnell was determined to find out what happened and pursued the investigation after his retirement which would end on Sunday, 9 Januray 2011.
For thirty years, the story would be dormant in police files, and all the people involved in Kate's life would continue with their lives. Her husband left the country, her four year old son landed up in a boarding school where he was bullied. For some life would continue normally, and for others her death would change everything.
When Terry dies of a heart attack, his daughter Stella, with her own cleaning company, assumes she will just clinically finish up his life and home, as she is doing with all her clients, never expecting to find what was waiting for her in his home. She believes they did not have a good relationship, her dad was married to his work, and she dissociated with him after her parents divorce. She did not really know him and felt no need to mourn his death at all.
To find the case still open and being investigated by her retired dad brought even more resentment and bitterness. How did it happen that she resented a dead woman this much? It was the murder case that ended his marriage and changed his relationship with Stella forever. Until she starts to read her dad's meticulous notes.
Between the time of his death and his funeral, her entire approach to life will be challenged, her memories rearranged, her values tested and her mission in life changed.
There was thirty years of history in different people's lives that would open up for her. In less than three weeks, she would become something she never imagined possible and get to know people she never deemed necessary in her life.
This is a brilliant detective murder mystery. Not only are there complete profiles of all the people involved, there are also the detailed memories of those who remembered the murder but never discussed what they knew. The secrets are stacked up, the veneer covering up the guilt, are polished to a satin shine. But Stella was not only known for her meticulous cleaning services, her ability to find grime in hidden places, she was also her father's daughter when it comes to detail.
This was a tremendous experience! Five stars for everything!
For thirty years, the story would be dormant in police files, and all the people involved in Kate's life would continue with their lives. Her husband left the country, her four year old son landed up in a boarding school where he was bullied. For some life would continue normally, and for others her death would change everything.
When Terry dies of a heart attack, his daughter Stella, with her own cleaning company, assumes she will just clinically finish up his life and home, as she is doing with all her clients, never expecting to find what was waiting for her in his home. She believes they did not have a good relationship, her dad was married to his work, and she dissociated with him after her parents divorce. She did not really know him and felt no need to mourn his death at all.
To find the case still open and being investigated by her retired dad brought even more resentment and bitterness. How did it happen that she resented a dead woman this much? It was the murder case that ended his marriage and changed his relationship with Stella forever. Until she starts to read her dad's meticulous notes.
Between the time of his death and his funeral, her entire approach to life will be challenged, her memories rearranged, her values tested and her mission in life changed.
There was thirty years of history in different people's lives that would open up for her. In less than three weeks, she would become something she never imagined possible and get to know people she never deemed necessary in her life.
This is a brilliant detective murder mystery. Not only are there complete profiles of all the people involved, there are also the detailed memories of those who remembered the murder but never discussed what they knew. The secrets are stacked up, the veneer covering up the guilt, are polished to a satin shine. But Stella was not only known for her meticulous cleaning services, her ability to find grime in hidden places, she was also her father's daughter when it comes to detail.
This was a tremendous experience! Five stars for everything!
December 13, 2023
Stella Darnell has never been close to her father Terry, a senior police detective. After her parents split up when she was seven, Stella spent the rest of her childhood with her mother and sometimes only saw Terry three times a year.
However, when Terry suddenly dies in the coastal resort of Seaford, Sussex, Stella discovers she is Terry’s sole beneficiary. Whilst sorting through his effects she discovers he could have been on the verge of cracking a murder case which has been unsolved for thirty years; that of young mother Kate Rokesmith, whose body was found by the banks of the Thames at Hammersmith, two days before the wedding of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer. The only possible witness to the crime being her young son, Jonathan.
Stella runs a small cleaning business and is absolutely meticulous about her work. She decides to apply the same attention to detail in trying to solve the case her father was working on. Her investigations become even more intense when she hires a new cleaner, Jack Harmon. Jack is the best cleaner she’s ever employed but still a distinctly mysterious character.
This is superb crime writing. Lesley Thomson is as meticulous in her plotting as Stella is in her cleaning. There are a multitude of twists and turns which kept me totally engrossed and the locations’ descriptions – whether of London streets and alleys or coastal country churchyards – were brilliantly evocative.
However, when Terry suddenly dies in the coastal resort of Seaford, Sussex, Stella discovers she is Terry’s sole beneficiary. Whilst sorting through his effects she discovers he could have been on the verge of cracking a murder case which has been unsolved for thirty years; that of young mother Kate Rokesmith, whose body was found by the banks of the Thames at Hammersmith, two days before the wedding of Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer. The only possible witness to the crime being her young son, Jonathan.
Stella runs a small cleaning business and is absolutely meticulous about her work. She decides to apply the same attention to detail in trying to solve the case her father was working on. Her investigations become even more intense when she hires a new cleaner, Jack Harmon. Jack is the best cleaner she’s ever employed but still a distinctly mysterious character.
This is superb crime writing. Lesley Thomson is as meticulous in her plotting as Stella is in her cleaning. There are a multitude of twists and turns which kept me totally engrossed and the locations’ descriptions – whether of London streets and alleys or coastal country churchyards – were brilliantly evocative.
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December 2, 2024DNF I quit reading The Detective’s Daughter by Lesley Thomson on page 58. Being an avid reader of mysteries, I was disappointed by this one. The premise of the novel was original: a daughter decides to investigate an unsolved murder that her deceased father had never been able to close. What made this mystery confusing was the addition of too many secondary stories. This is probably an excellent murder mystery but it failed to grab my attention. I will not be rating or reviewing because this is only my opinion and I do not want to influence future readers.
December 2, 2022
The Detective's Daughter by Lesley Thomson is the first book of 9 in her Detective's Daughter series. Ex police superintendent Terry Darnell, now a PI, is still investigating his white whale, the murder of Kate Rokesmith, when he dies of a heart attack. His estranged daughter, Stella Darnell, owner of a successful house cleaning business, while going through Terry's papers comes across his files on the case and she decides to continue with the investigation.
Also involved is Jack Harmon, a strange young man, who works evenings as a Tube (subway) driver and also seems to hide out in other peoples' homes; his Hosts, as he calls them. Jack is hired by Stella to help clean some residences and he implicates himself into Stella's investigation. There are also other 'weird' characters; Stella's 'ex' boyfriend Paul, who sort of stalks her and also seems aware of the murder, Dentist Yvan, whose office Stella cleans (well, actually, she gets Jack to clean it) and with whom she has a budding relationship. There are other people who may have been witnesses to the murder.
It's a sometimes-confusing story, wandering between Stella and Jack, but also jumping into the past where we follow Stella as a child with dad, Terry. There is also a story line about a young boy at boarding school and we don't really get clarity (somewhat) into that situation until much later. So, there are imperfections. As always, PEOPLE KEEP TOO MANY SECRETS! And Stella is not necessarily likeable, although this does change as the story progresses. As the story progresses, the clues begin to pop up more and more and it draws you deeper and deeper into the story.
It's a cold story, set in London during winter so reading it now was appropriate. LOL. I liked how things came to a head, resolved themselves, both from Stella's and Jack's perspectives and ultimately, even from Terry's. I was doubtful about the story at the beginning, but it just got better and better. I quite enjoyed and look forward to reading the next story, Ghost Girl. (4.5 stars)
Also involved is Jack Harmon, a strange young man, who works evenings as a Tube (subway) driver and also seems to hide out in other peoples' homes; his Hosts, as he calls them. Jack is hired by Stella to help clean some residences and he implicates himself into Stella's investigation. There are also other 'weird' characters; Stella's 'ex' boyfriend Paul, who sort of stalks her and also seems aware of the murder, Dentist Yvan, whose office Stella cleans (well, actually, she gets Jack to clean it) and with whom she has a budding relationship. There are other people who may have been witnesses to the murder.
It's a sometimes-confusing story, wandering between Stella and Jack, but also jumping into the past where we follow Stella as a child with dad, Terry. There is also a story line about a young boy at boarding school and we don't really get clarity (somewhat) into that situation until much later. So, there are imperfections. As always, PEOPLE KEEP TOO MANY SECRETS! And Stella is not necessarily likeable, although this does change as the story progresses. As the story progresses, the clues begin to pop up more and more and it draws you deeper and deeper into the story.
It's a cold story, set in London during winter so reading it now was appropriate. LOL. I liked how things came to a head, resolved themselves, both from Stella's and Jack's perspectives and ultimately, even from Terry's. I was doubtful about the story at the beginning, but it just got better and better. I quite enjoyed and look forward to reading the next story, Ghost Girl. (4.5 stars)
March 30, 2017
This book was so much better than Ghost Girl. I loved the way Stella developed a relationship with her father after he died, with flashbacks and appreciated him more as she solved the case. Also I liked getting to know Jack without knowing who he really was till much later in the book. And how Jack and Stella helped each other grieve at the end. And jumping back and forth in time wasn't as confusing as in Ghost Girl. In fact I liked following Terry's investigating up to his death to see how far he got with it without revealing what he knew before Stella and Jack solved it on their own. Clear as mud?
February 12, 2016
This is a very strange book. I can’t tell if it was just badly edited, badly proofread or if I’m genuinely missing something. The story feels very disjointed and there are so many poorly written sentences that made me stop reading in mid-paragraph and go back and try again. And again. This made the story hard to concentrate on and I found it very easy to lose track of what was going on.
The premise is pretty good. Stella Darnell’s father DCS Terry Darnell investigated the “crime of the decade” thirty years ago when young wife and mother Kate Rokesmith was brutally murdered in front of her 4-year old son. Terry was never able to solve it and when he dies, Stella decides to reinvestigate. Why she does this is never really explained – she doesn’t actually know herself. Whilst doing this Stella also has to deal with running her business (a cleaning company), an obsessed ex-boyfriend, a possibly disturbed new employee with an agenda of his own and several suspects that have either died or disappeared in the past decades.
That Stella has issues is obvious from the start. Whilst not exactly OCD, her monumental obsession with cleanliness affects all parts of her life, including the personal. She has no close relationships because they are, well, messy. Her ex is definitely stalking her but she never quite deals with the problem. The new employee, Jack Harmon, is certainly disturbed but becomes her confederate and then reveals a secret with huge implications for the investigation. Other characters appear out of the blue and the series of coincidences that these present is just too incredible. Sadly, none of the characters are particularly likeable or even sympathetic and you end up just not giving shit about what happens to any of them. All you really care about is finding out who killed Kate and be done! Sadly the denouement is so complicated and drawn out that even by the end of it you still don’t really care. And I had to go back a couple of times over the last few chapters just to make sure I knew what had happened – not good.
This is the kind of novel where you either go back and read it all over again because you just HAVE to figure out what the hell just happened or you end up throwing it against the wall because the crappy editing and confusing-as-hell storyline ruins a potentially really good murder mystery.
On the upside, it is slow but atmospheric and at times very suspenseful. The descriptions of London gripped in a freezing cold winter match brilliantly the cold and frozen personalities of Stella and Jack and the constantly falling snow intensifies the creepiness and danger.
The premise is pretty good. Stella Darnell’s father DCS Terry Darnell investigated the “crime of the decade” thirty years ago when young wife and mother Kate Rokesmith was brutally murdered in front of her 4-year old son. Terry was never able to solve it and when he dies, Stella decides to reinvestigate. Why she does this is never really explained – she doesn’t actually know herself. Whilst doing this Stella also has to deal with running her business (a cleaning company), an obsessed ex-boyfriend, a possibly disturbed new employee with an agenda of his own and several suspects that have either died or disappeared in the past decades.
That Stella has issues is obvious from the start. Whilst not exactly OCD, her monumental obsession with cleanliness affects all parts of her life, including the personal. She has no close relationships because they are, well, messy. Her ex is definitely stalking her but she never quite deals with the problem. The new employee, Jack Harmon, is certainly disturbed but becomes her confederate and then reveals a secret with huge implications for the investigation. Other characters appear out of the blue and the series of coincidences that these present is just too incredible. Sadly, none of the characters are particularly likeable or even sympathetic and you end up just not giving shit about what happens to any of them. All you really care about is finding out who killed Kate and be done! Sadly the denouement is so complicated and drawn out that even by the end of it you still don’t really care. And I had to go back a couple of times over the last few chapters just to make sure I knew what had happened – not good.
This is the kind of novel where you either go back and read it all over again because you just HAVE to figure out what the hell just happened or you end up throwing it against the wall because the crappy editing and confusing-as-hell storyline ruins a potentially really good murder mystery.
On the upside, it is slow but atmospheric and at times very suspenseful. The descriptions of London gripped in a freezing cold winter match brilliantly the cold and frozen personalities of Stella and Jack and the constantly falling snow intensifies the creepiness and danger.
July 27, 2016
First, the good news: Some American reviewers have had difficulty with a very few specific British terms such as "lych gate". As an Aussie, I have no idea what a lych gate is, and do not care. It has no bearing on the plot. If you are so distraught at encountering a word you have never heard on your local hillbilly TV news, then stop reading crime fiction, and return to perusing sales catalogs.
Second, the bad news. Charles Dickens himself would blush at the ludicrous coincidences that this book relies upon to propel the plot. I can only reinforce what others have said. The childhood sub-plot just disappears into the ether, as though the author went off her meds after writing the first few chapters. The main character, initially depicted as a dedicated workaholic to her business, goes AWOL after a few chapters to pursue a venture even she does not believe in.
Characters repeatedly withhold information from each other, for no good reason. Even the author is flummoxed by her character’s idiocy. Time and again, characters visit a house in the dead of night. They could have visited in broad daylight. And when they do visit in the dead of night, they insist on not turning the lights on. Mind you, every single time that happens, the characters had a perfectly legitimate reason for visiting. In one notable example, the heroine visits her own dead father’s house at night, but requires it must be conducted in the dark. WTF?
Again, as others have said, many passages use pronouns to disguise who is speaking and when. In the first ten chapters alone, I thought I had suffered as many strokes, since the narrative was simply incoherent. Thanks to other reviewers of this book, I am now confident that it is the author, and not me, who has suffered brain damage.
But there are two special incidents in the narrative that convince me that the author should retire to a place where she can do no further damage to herself or others.
First: at a climactic moment, the author’s heroine receives information that a terrible murder is to take place. The heroine is hours away from the murder site. She has just finished talking to a friendly policeman. What does the heroine do? Does she call the friendly policeman to prevent the murder? No. As the author gleefully states, the heroine does no such thing. The heroine goes out of her way not to call the cops.
Second: The villain is dispatched in a paragraph that virtually defines deux ex machina. “And then an asteroid fell on him”. It is that ludicrous.
Second, the bad news. Charles Dickens himself would blush at the ludicrous coincidences that this book relies upon to propel the plot. I can only reinforce what others have said. The childhood sub-plot just disappears into the ether, as though the author went off her meds after writing the first few chapters. The main character, initially depicted as a dedicated workaholic to her business, goes AWOL after a few chapters to pursue a venture even she does not believe in.
Characters repeatedly withhold information from each other, for no good reason. Even the author is flummoxed by her character’s idiocy. Time and again, characters visit a house in the dead of night. They could have visited in broad daylight. And when they do visit in the dead of night, they insist on not turning the lights on. Mind you, every single time that happens, the characters had a perfectly legitimate reason for visiting. In one notable example, the heroine visits her own dead father’s house at night, but requires it must be conducted in the dark. WTF?
Again, as others have said, many passages use pronouns to disguise who is speaking and when. In the first ten chapters alone, I thought I had suffered as many strokes, since the narrative was simply incoherent. Thanks to other reviewers of this book, I am now confident that it is the author, and not me, who has suffered brain damage.
But there are two special incidents in the narrative that convince me that the author should retire to a place where she can do no further damage to herself or others.
First: at a climactic moment, the author’s heroine receives information that a terrible murder is to take place. The heroine is hours away from the murder site. She has just finished talking to a friendly policeman. What does the heroine do? Does she call the friendly policeman to prevent the murder? No. As the author gleefully states, the heroine does no such thing. The heroine goes out of her way not to call the cops.
Second: The villain is dispatched in a paragraph that virtually defines deux ex machina. “And then an asteroid fell on him”. It is that ludicrous.
October 20, 2015
Lesley Thomson was a new author for me but I'm hooked and I'm ready to read book 2 in Detective's Daughter series. This was a fast-paced, suspenseful mystery, packed with emotion. Stella as well as Jack Harmon have definitely got some issues from their pasts to resolve. I found myself hoping that if they could just solve the mystery of Kate Rokesmith's murder, they might actually feel peace at last.
I love to try to figure out "who done it" in mysteries and this one left me puzzled. This also kept me anxiously rushing back to my kindle to keep reading. I often felt sadness for the characters as well. Their lives had so much pain and I just wanted it to end for them.
Readers will thrill at trying to discover the answer to who killed Kate Rokesmith. I did find myself a little ignorant of some of the slang of the characters as they were British and I did not know what the words meant. I kept on reading though, just had to shake my head in confusion a few times.
I rated this book 5 stars and highly recommend it to mystery lovers.
I received an ebook of this novel from netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
I love to try to figure out "who done it" in mysteries and this one left me puzzled. This also kept me anxiously rushing back to my kindle to keep reading. I often felt sadness for the characters as well. Their lives had so much pain and I just wanted it to end for them.
Readers will thrill at trying to discover the answer to who killed Kate Rokesmith. I did find myself a little ignorant of some of the slang of the characters as they were British and I did not know what the words meant. I kept on reading though, just had to shake my head in confusion a few times.
I rated this book 5 stars and highly recommend it to mystery lovers.
I received an ebook of this novel from netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
August 27, 2013
Have you ever read a book that when you have finished it you are not sure if you enjoyed it or not? Well, this is one of those situations. The story is very cleverly written and interwoven but I think you need to read it over a very short period, say 2-3 days maximum, to get the best out of it. It took me nearly three weeks to read it which on its own is an indication that it did not grab me that much. To be fair I did not know what the end was going to be until it hit me but that might have been because my mind kept straying to other things. A good holiday read though and I have now bought another book by the same author. This is a bit like the first time I tried a curry. Not sure if I liked it so I had another one and now love the stuff. Lesley Thomson may prove to be the same for me!
July 16, 2013
Although I found the central theme of the book the murder of Kate Rokesmith intriguing, I found this book rather slow and drawn out. I don't expect a high octane read every time I pick up a book but even when I thought I was near the end there was over an hour of reading to go.
I did like the way in which the characters were brought to life and the detailing here added to the story very much, however the suspenseful parts had me thinking, "get on with it!"
Overall a decent mystery but parts were slow and I felt a little repetitive at times too.
I did like the way in which the characters were brought to life and the detailing here added to the story very much, however the suspenseful parts had me thinking, "get on with it!"
Overall a decent mystery but parts were slow and I felt a little repetitive at times too.
January 6, 2024
Retired police detective Terry Darnell is hunting for a clue that points to the real killer of a cold case, the Kate Rokesmith murder, at the book's outset, but before he can do anything with what he has found, he dies of a heart attack. Stella Darnell, his estranged daughter and business owner of a cleaning service, finds several files detailing the investigation into Kate Rokesmith’s life and death in her dead father’s home.
We then meet a strange man, Jack Harmon, a train driver as well as a man who believes in signs, such as the number of the train he’ll be driving on a particular day giving him insight into where he should travel next in London. As well as which home he should break into and live in secretly, calling the unsuspecting, and still in residence, homeowners, his Hosts.
We’re also given insight into Stella’s childhood, and to the young Jonathan Rokesmith’s life on the day of his mother’s murder, as well as some of his time in a boarding school, where his father deposited him, unable to cope with his son after his wife’s death.
Stella is unable to read social cues, has no use for fictions, is dealing with her complex feelings for her dead father, and ends up employing Jack when a new job comes up and she’s short of staff. He proves to be thorough, in fact the best cleaner she now has, and somehow the two begin working together, reviewing her dad’s case files and begin to make progress on Terry’s work identifying the killer.
Despite the Dickensian level of coincidences in the story, and the sometimes confusing sections set in the past or detailing memories, this book is compelling. So much so that I found myself reading late into the night. This book hooked me, and now I have to read more in the series.
We then meet a strange man, Jack Harmon, a train driver as well as a man who believes in signs, such as the number of the train he’ll be driving on a particular day giving him insight into where he should travel next in London. As well as which home he should break into and live in secretly, calling the unsuspecting, and still in residence, homeowners, his Hosts.
We’re also given insight into Stella’s childhood, and to the young Jonathan Rokesmith’s life on the day of his mother’s murder, as well as some of his time in a boarding school, where his father deposited him, unable to cope with his son after his wife’s death.
Stella is unable to read social cues, has no use for fictions, is dealing with her complex feelings for her dead father, and ends up employing Jack when a new job comes up and she’s short of staff. He proves to be thorough, in fact the best cleaner she now has, and somehow the two begin working together, reviewing her dad’s case files and begin to make progress on Terry’s work identifying the killer.
Despite the Dickensian level of coincidences in the story, and the sometimes confusing sections set in the past or detailing memories, this book is compelling. So much so that I found myself reading late into the night. This book hooked me, and now I have to read more in the series.
June 23, 2020
2.5 stars rounded up. The plot was entertaining enough, the characters, dead or alive, were well depicted, and the audiobook narration was excellent. What really did this novel a disservice were the extensive descriptions and unimportant minutiae. If they had been edited out, it would have been much more digestible.
However, I see the following books in the series are fairly well-rated, so I might just try another one instead of giving up entirely.
However, I see the following books in the series are fairly well-rated, so I might just try another one instead of giving up entirely.
October 17, 2020
“A time to be born and a time to die,
A time to kill and a time to heal,
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. ”
"The Detective's Daughter" has the feel of a police procedural mixed with a psychological thriller, though neither is in fact true. What it is an excellent start to a mystery series that I plan to follow avidly.
This is a brilliant detective murder mystery. Not only are there complete profiles of all the people involved, there are also the detailed memories of those who remembered the murder but never discussed what they knew. The secrets are stacked up, the veneer covering up the guilt, are polished to a satin shine. Let me explain: A woman follows in her father's footsteps by taking on the murder case he never solved in life. It was the murder that shocked the nation. Thirty years ago Kate Rokesmith went walking by the river with her young son. She never came home. For three decade her case file has lain, unsolved, in the corner of an attic. Until Stella Darnell, daughter of Detective Chief Superintendent Darnell, starts to clear out her father's house after his death.
Our final verdict would be that this story is definitely a character-driven mystery. These are the best kind in my book. It is a novel of love and the damage it can do. A novel of revenge, remorse, and regret. We have to say that we enjoyed this (rather long) mystery. Stella, though not a particularly warm person, evoked empathy in the reader. The mystery itself snagged our interest at the beginning and we just had to follow it to its conclusion. Jack Harmon was an odd character whose personality was both sympathetic and more than a tad creepy. Although the plot in itself is interesting, it had lags and drags making it a bit repetitive. The premise is good, but the ending could’ve been better.
Overall, this story has many twists and turns; and, holds the reader’s attention. Give it a shot. Challenging, but you don’t always want easy reads, after all.
We received a complimentary paperback copy of this novel from our friend, Subhra Jeet. This review is our thanks to him.
Genre: Murder Mystery, Psychological Thriller.
Rating: 2.5⭐
Our handles:
1. Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/afrxhalmxs
https://www.goodreads.com/mohantyankita
2. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilacreaders
3. Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/lilacreaders
A time to kill and a time to heal,
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. ”
"The Detective's Daughter" has the feel of a police procedural mixed with a psychological thriller, though neither is in fact true. What it is an excellent start to a mystery series that I plan to follow avidly.
This is a brilliant detective murder mystery. Not only are there complete profiles of all the people involved, there are also the detailed memories of those who remembered the murder but never discussed what they knew. The secrets are stacked up, the veneer covering up the guilt, are polished to a satin shine. Let me explain: A woman follows in her father's footsteps by taking on the murder case he never solved in life. It was the murder that shocked the nation. Thirty years ago Kate Rokesmith went walking by the river with her young son. She never came home. For three decade her case file has lain, unsolved, in the corner of an attic. Until Stella Darnell, daughter of Detective Chief Superintendent Darnell, starts to clear out her father's house after his death.
Our final verdict would be that this story is definitely a character-driven mystery. These are the best kind in my book. It is a novel of love and the damage it can do. A novel of revenge, remorse, and regret. We have to say that we enjoyed this (rather long) mystery. Stella, though not a particularly warm person, evoked empathy in the reader. The mystery itself snagged our interest at the beginning and we just had to follow it to its conclusion. Jack Harmon was an odd character whose personality was both sympathetic and more than a tad creepy. Although the plot in itself is interesting, it had lags and drags making it a bit repetitive. The premise is good, but the ending could’ve been better.
Overall, this story has many twists and turns; and, holds the reader’s attention. Give it a shot. Challenging, but you don’t always want easy reads, after all.
We received a complimentary paperback copy of this novel from our friend, Subhra Jeet. This review is our thanks to him.
Genre: Murder Mystery, Psychological Thriller.
Rating: 2.5⭐
Our handles:
1. Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/afrxhalmxs
https://www.goodreads.com/mohantyankita
2. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lilacreaders
3. Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/lilacreaders
September 8, 2015
For 30 years Terry Darnell has been investigating, even into his retirement years, the murder case he could never quite let go of or solve. When he passes away it’s left to his daughter to organize what is left of his life. When she discovers that he has been investigating this case for all these years even when it has caused him to lose his family, she can’t help but be bitter. Even as she decides to try and solve this case herself the murdered woman’s son is also trying to find who took his mother from him. This story has many twists and turns and holds the reader’s attention.
July 16, 2014
This is my second book by Lesley Thomson that I have not got in to.
February 14, 2020
I loved this book. Can't relate to reviews that found it slow and characters unlikeable. I loved the writing and characterisation
May 19, 2021
Stay with me here...just as one must choose to stay with this one. The first half, setting up the characters, the backstories, establishing everything...is almost painful. If I wasn't so doggone determined to finish every book I start, I wouldn't have pushed through on this one, and now that I'm done, I'm quite glad I did. It ended up getting so good I sacrificed half a night's sleep so I could finish it; it was that enthralling.
In a not-so-classic 'whodunit', Thomson weaves a, very, very, very intricate tale around broken and difficult relationships, parental/familial and otherwise, while taking the reader on a journey through London and surrounding areas. An unsolved murder is inherited by the daughter of a detective sergeant, who get's completely taken into the mystery, herself determined to solve the case which dogged her dad his whole career.
It's different, not always easy, but immensely satisfying...it would be five stars, but yeah, that first half, oef!
In a not-so-classic 'whodunit', Thomson weaves a, very, very, very intricate tale around broken and difficult relationships, parental/familial and otherwise, while taking the reader on a journey through London and surrounding areas. An unsolved murder is inherited by the daughter of a detective sergeant, who get's completely taken into the mystery, herself determined to solve the case which dogged her dad his whole career.
It's different, not always easy, but immensely satisfying...it would be five stars, but yeah, that first half, oef!
April 26, 2018
I did not enjoy the writing of this book. At times it was hard to follow the story. The story itself is ok, but there are too many characters who are poorly defined and too many words. I think that varying sentence structure is really important to make writing easy to follow, and Lesley does not do that. She describes things in painful detail. The ending dragged on for ever because she describes irrelevant things like the wall and spider webs, when we just want to find out who killed Kate, even though we worked it out hundreds of pages before and are only reading to the end because we are not quitters. My advice is to not read this book. You won’t like the characters. You won’t like the writing and you might not even like the story.
March 7, 2023
This book honestly started off pretty slow and confusing. It’s very descriptive (sometimes wordy), but once the plot picked up, I legit couldn’t put it down. Very intense kind of detective mystery book. I won’t read the rest of the series but this one is okay as a stand alone and I really enjoyed it by the end!
October 5, 2022
I loved this, it has set me on the trail of all the follow ups, which I'm guarding closely on by TBR table -- eReader!!!!
March 12, 2023
Absolutely gripping
Slow to start but intriguing from the first page. I was totally gripped by the story and the characters. Will be reading more.
Slow to start but intriguing from the first page. I was totally gripped by the story and the characters. Will be reading more.
dnf
June 9, 2023DNF @ 5%
I just hate the writing style.
I just hate the writing style.
July 10, 2022
‘Even the smallest observation might have helped the police solve the murder of Katherine Rokesmith. In the end, it did not.’
On 27 July 1981, Kate Rokesmith was murdered. While her husband was a suspect, he was never charged. Kate’s four-year-old son was sent to boarding school. And Stella Darnell’s father, Detective Inspector Darnell became so engrossed in the search for Kate’s killer that he had little time for Stella.
Thirty years later, Stella is dealing with her father’s sudden death. As Stella sorts through his possessions, she finds the Rokesmith case papers in a box gathering dust. The case has never been solved. This is the case that destroyed her parent’s marriage and created a distance between Stella and her father. Instead of destroying the papers, Stella starts to read them. Pulled in by her father’s meticulous notes, Stella is drawn into the case.
This book has languished on my shelf for far too long, and I am determined to ‘read and release’ as many books as I can this year. Hmm. On one level, the story moved too slowly to completely hold my attention. On another level, there were so many twists and coincidences that I kept being jerked out of the story. And yet, I felt compelled to finish it. I think that tighter editing would have turned an okay read into a great read.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
On 27 July 1981, Kate Rokesmith was murdered. While her husband was a suspect, he was never charged. Kate’s four-year-old son was sent to boarding school. And Stella Darnell’s father, Detective Inspector Darnell became so engrossed in the search for Kate’s killer that he had little time for Stella.
Thirty years later, Stella is dealing with her father’s sudden death. As Stella sorts through his possessions, she finds the Rokesmith case papers in a box gathering dust. The case has never been solved. This is the case that destroyed her parent’s marriage and created a distance between Stella and her father. Instead of destroying the papers, Stella starts to read them. Pulled in by her father’s meticulous notes, Stella is drawn into the case.
This book has languished on my shelf for far too long, and I am determined to ‘read and release’ as many books as I can this year. Hmm. On one level, the story moved too slowly to completely hold my attention. On another level, there were so many twists and coincidences that I kept being jerked out of the story. And yet, I felt compelled to finish it. I think that tighter editing would have turned an okay read into a great read.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
November 2, 2013
I chose this book because I wanted a crime novel that I would be able to race through fairly quickly, but which would still have a bit more to it than a standard murder mystery. Unfortunately, it didn't entirely meet those criteria. The set-up is intriguing and the main character is refreshingly different from the average heroine, but I didn't find The Detective's Daughter by Lesley Thomson a gripping read.
Stella Darnell is an independent, practical, emotionally rather cold - some might even say hard - woman with a successful contract cleaning business. When her semi-estranged father Terry, a recently-retired police officer, is found dead from a heart attack in an unfamiliar area, Stella begins what is for her the tiresome and irritating task of sorting out his belongings and personal affairs. During this process she discovers that Terry, in his own time, is still secretly investigating a notorious 'cold case' - the murder of a pretty, middle-class young mother, Kate Rokesmith, that took place in 1981. Terry's own house is just a minute or two from the Rokesmiths' former family home; moreover, Stella has a regular cleaning contract at a home in the same street, a home now occupied by an older woman with apparent dementia who was a key witness in the Rokesmith case. Stella, full of repressed guilt and confusion over her fractured relationship with Terry, finds herself attempting to solve the case herself - aided by a mysterious employee, Jack Harmon, whose multiple neuroses and OCD-related disorders are less problematic than his secretive, often duplicitous behaviour.
Stella herself is in some ways brave choice as a main character, and I think one of the strongest aspects of the book. She's selfish, unglamorous, rather joyless, lacks perception when it comes to others' motives, and has no real interests, let alone passions, beyond her cleaning company. That said, Lesley Thomson still manages to make her an interesting anchor for the story and gives her enough depth to make us care about her. Jack Harmon, on the other hand, is pure caricature, as is Stella's handsome dentist and occasional dinner-date, Ivan Challoner.
The narrative is pieced together from sections told from different perspectives and from different periods, which would have worked nicely if it had been less clumsily executed, but for me it simply made the story feel disjointed, as if the writer couldn't find a more cohesive way of combining the different plot strands. Thomson seems to be keen on detail, which is a necessary trait in a crime writer, but here so much of the detail in the descriptions of characters' daily business is simply superfluous that I became swiftly bored. There is also an entire subplot involving Stella's former partner which added nothing to the story but more pages.
I also guessed two big revelations - one being the identity of the murderer - very early on. There are few things more disappointing than the murderer being one of those characters who clearly has no other reason at all be in the book than to be revealed as the killer, and being able to guess the murderer is certainly not something to celebrate in a crime novel.
I could possibly have forgiven some of this book's faults if it had had some pace to it; similarly I could have forgiven the lack of pace if the plot and characters had been more engaging and original. But as it was, this book came to feel like something of a chore.
Stella Darnell is an independent, practical, emotionally rather cold - some might even say hard - woman with a successful contract cleaning business. When her semi-estranged father Terry, a recently-retired police officer, is found dead from a heart attack in an unfamiliar area, Stella begins what is for her the tiresome and irritating task of sorting out his belongings and personal affairs. During this process she discovers that Terry, in his own time, is still secretly investigating a notorious 'cold case' - the murder of a pretty, middle-class young mother, Kate Rokesmith, that took place in 1981. Terry's own house is just a minute or two from the Rokesmiths' former family home; moreover, Stella has a regular cleaning contract at a home in the same street, a home now occupied by an older woman with apparent dementia who was a key witness in the Rokesmith case. Stella, full of repressed guilt and confusion over her fractured relationship with Terry, finds herself attempting to solve the case herself - aided by a mysterious employee, Jack Harmon, whose multiple neuroses and OCD-related disorders are less problematic than his secretive, often duplicitous behaviour.
Stella herself is in some ways brave choice as a main character, and I think one of the strongest aspects of the book. She's selfish, unglamorous, rather joyless, lacks perception when it comes to others' motives, and has no real interests, let alone passions, beyond her cleaning company. That said, Lesley Thomson still manages to make her an interesting anchor for the story and gives her enough depth to make us care about her. Jack Harmon, on the other hand, is pure caricature, as is Stella's handsome dentist and occasional dinner-date, Ivan Challoner.
The narrative is pieced together from sections told from different perspectives and from different periods, which would have worked nicely if it had been less clumsily executed, but for me it simply made the story feel disjointed, as if the writer couldn't find a more cohesive way of combining the different plot strands. Thomson seems to be keen on detail, which is a necessary trait in a crime writer, but here so much of the detail in the descriptions of characters' daily business is simply superfluous that I became swiftly bored. There is also an entire subplot involving Stella's former partner which added nothing to the story but more pages.
I also guessed two big revelations - one being the identity of the murderer - very early on. There are few things more disappointing than the murderer being one of those characters who clearly has no other reason at all be in the book than to be revealed as the killer, and being able to guess the murderer is certainly not something to celebrate in a crime novel.
I could possibly have forgiven some of this book's faults if it had had some pace to it; similarly I could have forgiven the lack of pace if the plot and characters had been more engaging and original. But as it was, this book came to feel like something of a chore.
March 18, 2020
The Detective in the title is Terry and it is he who haunts this book. A retired policeman, still obsessed with a decades old murder at the time of his death, we appear to know very little about him. Other characters’ memories of Terry can’t be trusted as he appears to be a hero to some (his police colleagues) and a villain to others (his ex-wife and his daughter). It is only in the descriptions of his time spent with young Stella that we get a glimpse of the man rather than the detective. His love for her just shone out from the pages (“his Stella”, “his girl”). And even at the end, his last thought is of her.
Contrast this with the Daughter in the title, Stella. A businesswoman in her forties, she is cold and indifferent to her father. Why? This isn’t explained but one assumes this is as a result of his absence throughout her childhood, not helped by the bitterness and hatred of her mother towards her father. Stella is certainly not a likeable person at the start of this story. Her father’s death has little impact on her initially but as the story progresses she starts to find out more about her father and the case he was working on. Her cleaning business takes a back seat as she uncovers new secrets, enjoys the company of a charming dentist and encounters a strange man who finds meaning in numbers. She also has to deal with an ex-boyfriend who just won’t leave her alone.
This is a story that takes its time in revealing its secrets. Yes it’s long and there are lots of descriptions about everyone and everything. But it’s beautifully written and this draws you in. And you need to really read it, absorb it, or you will miss vital clues.
By the end of the story we see that Stella’s cold heart has slowly started to thaw. Just like the snow that, in the beginning, covered everything. Her ‘reconciliation’ with her father at his funeral was such a beautiful way to bring this story to a close.
I would just add that I am so glad that I no longer read reviews of books I want to read. If I had relied on the strength of reviews here I would have missed a real gem.
Contrast this with the Daughter in the title, Stella. A businesswoman in her forties, she is cold and indifferent to her father. Why? This isn’t explained but one assumes this is as a result of his absence throughout her childhood, not helped by the bitterness and hatred of her mother towards her father. Stella is certainly not a likeable person at the start of this story. Her father’s death has little impact on her initially but as the story progresses she starts to find out more about her father and the case he was working on. Her cleaning business takes a back seat as she uncovers new secrets, enjoys the company of a charming dentist and encounters a strange man who finds meaning in numbers. She also has to deal with an ex-boyfriend who just won’t leave her alone.
This is a story that takes its time in revealing its secrets. Yes it’s long and there are lots of descriptions about everyone and everything. But it’s beautifully written and this draws you in. And you need to really read it, absorb it, or you will miss vital clues.
By the end of the story we see that Stella’s cold heart has slowly started to thaw. Just like the snow that, in the beginning, covered everything. Her ‘reconciliation’ with her father at his funeral was such a beautiful way to bring this story to a close.
I would just add that I am so glad that I no longer read reviews of books I want to read. If I had relied on the strength of reviews here I would have missed a real gem.
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