Lesley Thomson

The Detective's Daughter books feature Stella Darnell, (Stella's dad was a detective in the Met Police in London). Stella runs a cleaning company and sidekick, Jack Harmon is an Underground train driver. Based in Hammersmith, London, accompanied by Stanley (a poodle who owes much to our last three dogs, most recently, Maltipoo, Roman), Stella and Jack solve murders.

Two other main characters who feature in my two standalone novels, Death of a Mermaid and The Companion are DSI Toni Kemp,(Sussex Police) who is given to shoplifting Snickers bars on a case and her school friend, Freddy Power, a mobile fishmonger based in Newhaven.

For fifteen years, I was a guest tutor on West Dean College's Creative Writing MA. Elly Griffiths and I ran a crime-fiction weekend course for budding writers. I also taught at the University of Sussex, Theakston's Crime festival in Harrogate and Bloody Scotland.

A Londoner, I live in Lewes in Sussex with my partner and our dog Roman. I'm currently writing The Disappearance of Valerie Catt- eleventh in the Detective's Daughter series set in London and Sussex.

I write each novel to be read in whatever order you, my readers come across them. As with many other crime writers, each story is specific to the novel. As an avid reader, I'm always interested to go back to earlier books in writers' series and fill in the past.

I hope you enjoy reading all my novels!

All the best

Lesley

Photo credits Main author photo - Michael White. Author with leafy background, Emily Andersen. Author with dog on chair, Melanie Lockett