From the very first page, longstanding fans of Deryn Lake's John Rawlings murder mysteries will find themselves back in familiar territory. The apothecary, his now grown twin sons and beautiful daughter Rose, make a very welcome return.
John's next door neighbour is the celebrated painter, Zoffany. No sooner has he made his acquaintances, a cry is heard from the river. A young child has fallen in. An apprentice leaps into the water and pulls her from the depths. John holds her by the feet, draining the water from her lungs as her companions from the river bank join the scene. The most notable of these is an elegant woman of matchless beauty, who graciously thanks John for his medical attentions. What she is ignorant of is that the child, who has told John her name is Lucinda, has also let slip to him that someone pushed her in.
A few days later Zoffany holds a glittering party at his house to which John is invited. One of the first people he sees is the beautiful woman who had graciously thanked him for his help in saving little Lucinda. To his surprise she ignores him completely. John is offended, and comments on the matter to Zoffany. The artist confesses that he has played a joke on him. The lady present tonight is the twin sister of the lady with Lucinda, Lady Lovell. The other was her sister, the Duchess of Derwent.
The tale gets more and more intriguing as John meets up with both familiar and new acquaintances in Chiswick, like his old friend and former fellow-sleuth, Samuel, now a successful goldsmith living in a sumptuous house himself. Best of all, he renews his connection with the Chief Magistrate, Sir John Fielding, known to all as the Blind Beak, whose assistant, Joe Jago, is one of his oldest and dearest friends.
Mishaps continue to occur to members of the circle in which John now moves, culminating in bloody murder. The Blind Beak now enters the plot in earnest, and John finds he has to switch rapidly between his two properties, his business in Nassau Street and his country residence in Chiswick.
Death on the River Thames one of Deryn Lake's very best novels, due to the cleverness of the plot and the fascinating characters, which even include the shades of Sir Gabriel Kent, John's beloved adoptive father, and his greatly lamented second wife, Elizabeth, the mother of his twins.
