For eighty years this house has held its secrets. Now, a buried body will reveal them all.

1941. In the pleasant countryside of Bishopstone lies a house with a pill box in the backyard. Here, Rupert and Adelaide Stride raise their two daughters, Clare and Rosa, alongside a young evacuee, Henry. But when war calls, Rupert dies on the beaches of Dunkirk, leaving his family to fend for themselves as bombs drop and food is rationed.

2023. Decades later, held afloat by state pensions and unable to heat the large house – nor able to afford to leave – Clare and Rosa have retreated to the annex, where they remain single and trapped in the place they were raised: Yew Tree House.

When the sisters put their rooms up for rent, Jack Harmon sees the perfect spot for a month away with his twins and cleaner-turned-detective Stella Darnell. Their first family holiday. But one day, as the twins run free through the garden, they discover a skeleton with a hole in its skull hidden in the brambles of a decommissioned WWII pill box.

This home has always been a complicated one, but Stella and Jack will have to dig deep into a history of revenge, desperation, and wartime tragedy to uncover the truth of what happened at Yew Tree House...

The new must-read psychological procedural in the Detective's Daughter series from critically acclaimed author, Lesley Thomson.

Praise for The Detective's Daughter series:

'Cunningly plotted.' Mick Herron
'One of the most original characters in British crime fiction... Thomson's plots are original and she draws her characters with genuine affection.' Sunday Times
'In the best traditions of the classic whodunnit, this is Midsomer Murders for grown-ups.' Jake Kerridge, Sunday Express
'Gloriously well-written... Thomson creates a rich and sinister world that is utterly unique.' William Shaw