You be the judge!

My review of this book (posted on Amazon) Highly, intelligent and gripping novel The Detective's Daughter is a highly gripping and intelligent novel - if you are a fan of crime fiction, you will love this book, and if you think crime fiction isn't your thing, think again - this is a very well written and clever novel, which happens to be crime fiction. The story centres around Stella Darnell, who runs her own cleaning company in London. Her policeman father, by whom she felt neglected as a child (he was always more interested in his cases than her) has just died, and clearing out some boxes she finds in his attic, she gets drawn into an old, unsolved murder, that was evidently still haunting her father in the days before his death. Various characters, including the enigmatic Jack, are introduced as Thomson builds up the story, which, as it gathers pace, becomes totally gripping, and (characteristic of her previous book, A Kind of Vanishing) keeps you guessing all the way with very clever plot twists and turns. The other great thing about this book is that (unlike other crime novels) it's really worth reading twice: the first time I was just so gripped and excited to see what happened I raced through it; the second time I could really appreciate the cleverness of the way the plot is constructed and the building of the characters and the way they are woven together. As a friend of mine said, of the two main characters, 'I was really fond of them by the end; I shall miss them'. Lets hope Thomson has more in store for us! Incidentally, if you've already read A Kind of Vanishing, you'll be pleased to see that Isabel Ramsay features in the Detective's Daughter too (Stella cleans for her) and if you haven't, well, lucky you, as you have a treat in store - it will fill in the story for you hinted at in the Detective's Daughter, and it showcases a real strength of Thomson's work, namely her incredibly good writing about children, and from a child's perspective.