MY REVIEW: 5*

This book is set in present day and 1987, in London.  A group of cottages are the setting for a disappearance, they run alongside the Thames, it is used often by dog walkers.  One particular dog walker and jogger was Helen Honeysett, she went missing one evening in 1987 and her body was never found.  The residents were questioned at the time, but nobody was arrested.  In the present day setting, Stella, owner of Clean Slate, is asked to investigate the old case by Adam, the husband of Helen.  Her colleague Jack is asked to discover strange noises in a different house.  Between Stella and Jack they gradually work through both their cases, talking to residents, raking through old notes and newspaper clippings.  It soon becomes obvious that not everybody is as they seem, they have things to hide, secrets that they want to keep, and their own reasons for not wanting to be involved.

This is the first book I have read by this author, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It is very well paced and even though there are a lot of characters , they are memorable and unique.  There has been obvious prior planning in this book as the underlying plots and stories are very intertwined.  It has been very well laid out and includes a very helpful cottage plan at the beginning of the book, listing residents living in the houses in 1987 and also present day.  Towards the later end of the story as Stella is working through her thoughts, the author shows the views from the perspective of Stella, for example, What was he / she doing?  Could he / she have etc.  The story comes to a very satisfying ending, leaving no unanswered questions.  It had me hooked from the first few pages right through to the final page.

I would highly recommend this book to readers of crime and mystery books.  I will be buying more of this authors books.

I would like to thank Portobello Book Blog https://portobellobookblog.com/ and Lesley Thompson for this book that I was lucky enough to win in a giveaway.

THE BLURB:

Brand new from the #1 bestselling author of The Detective’s Daughter.

Stella and Jack must reawaken the secrets of the past in order to solve the mysteries of the present.

January, 1987. In the depths of winter, only joggers and dog walkers brave the Thames towpath after dark. Helen Honeysett, a young newlywed, sets off for an evening run from her riverside cottage and disappears.

Twenty-nine years later, Helen’s body has never been found. Her husband has asked Stella Darnell, a private detective, and her side-kick Jack Harmon, to find out what happened all those years ago. But when the five households on that desolate stretch of towpath refuse to give up their secrets, Stella and Jack find themselves hunting a killer whose trail has long gone cold.

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