Book: The Detective's Daughter
Author: Lesley Thomson
Pages: 470
Read on: Kindle (as part of my Kindle Unlimited subscription)
Read in: Over 2-3 days
Plot Summary: Kate Rokesmith's decision to go to the river changed the lives of many. Her murder shocked the nation. Her husband never pressed charges and 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 for capturing her father's attention in a way she never could.
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: the case was never solved. Stella knows she should destroy them. Instead, she opens the box, and starts to read.
Things I Liked:
1. The premise of the book seemed interesting. A police officer's daughter starts, unwittingly, investigating the cold case that her father seemed to be obsessed with solving. I liked the element of an old crime with no real clues or witnesses or anything useful for Stella to go on. I liked the idea of a non-professional detective solving a cold case- the author certainly spent a lot of time (and pages) showing Stella's slow and gradual process of trial and error as she went on piecing together the events of that day 30 years ago.
2. The bare bones that we get to see of the cold case was also interesting. Kate Rokesmith's life, priorities and relationships were also interesting. Some chapters from her perspective would have been useful.
3. The process by which Stella ends up solving the cold case is quite interesting and logical. It is grounded in reality, so there are no sudden magic leads or a witness who suddenly remembers something. So, that was good.
Things I Didn't Like:
1. The book was way too verbose and descriptive! It could have been edited down to 300-odd pages and that would have made it a much better, tauter book. I got so bored reading pointless descriptions and long-winded chapters that went nowhere!
2. There were also some chapters from a mysterious couch surfer/ house crasher's perspective. It is not difficult to guess who this is but these chapters were an utter waste of time!
3. There were also some chapters from the killer's perspective and those were utterly unnecessary!
4. The identity of the real killer was a bit too convenient! There were way too many coincidences, which annoyed me no end! I hate it when books end like this!
Rating: 3/5
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