Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: The Dog Walker by Lesley Thomson

The Dog Walker by Lesley Thomson (Head of Zeus, 2017) is the fifth in the Detective’s Daughter series, featuring Stella Darnell, owner of Clean Slate, a London cleaning company, and a sometime private investigator. Her partner Jack Harmon drives a train for the London subway system and works for Stella as a cleaner as well as assisting in her inquiries.

Natasha Latimer bought a house in an isolated neighborhood along the Thames with the express intent of renovating the house and reselling it for a substantial profit. She thinks that the ghost of a young woman who disappeared nearly 30 years before is haunting the house and is destroying its re-sale value. She wants Clean Slate to perform a thorough top-to-bottom scrub to exorcise the ghost. Stella reluctantly agrees to take the assignment. While she and Jack are in the neighborhood, the husband of the missing woman also hires them to determine what became of his wife, who was never seen after leaving the house one night to walk their dog along the towpath. The effect of the disappearance and the subsequent police investigation rippled throughout the insulated neighborhood and its impact is still felt. The presence of Stella and Jack and their questions stir up memories and a guilty conscience or two.

I was enthralled, even as I cringed at the frequent shifts in time and place. (Yes, I recognize there is no other way to present a cold case story. I still don’t like it.) The characters simply leap off the page, even the incidental ones such as the greengrocer next to Clean Slate’s office. Much of the action takes place on the towpath, an uninviting site that gives off a chilling, eerie vibe matching the darkness of the story. The neighborhood plumber was accused of killing the missing woman but not taken to trial for lack of evidence, and the outcome for him and his family is devastating.

I didn’t know what to make of Jack Harmon. He hears and sees his mother, who died when he was young, and imagines he sees the two of them together. He also believes he can tell when he is in the presence of a killer, because killers have a specific aura. When these interior monologues are unfolding I am convinced I am reading about someone who is experiencing a psychotic episode. Yet he is grounded and invested in the here and now as he and Stella conduct their investigation. Perhaps if I read the earlier books he would make more sense.

With all the talk of ghosts and auras and such, the ending is completely unexpected but shouldn’t have been, as clues are present throughout. A devious plot, impressive characters, and strong atmosphere add up to a quality contribution to the crime fiction canon.

·  Hardcover: 400 pages

·  Publisher: Head of Zeus (June 1, 2017)

·  Language: English

·  ISBN-10: 1784972258

·  ISBN-13: 978-1784972257

Aubrey Hamilton ©2018

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal IT projects by day and reads mysteries at night.