Start reading Murder at Thornwood Park by Joan Sauers
- Allen & Unwin
- May 15
- 2 min read
Read an extract from Murder at Thornwood Park by Joan Sauers.
Who doesn't want to curl up with this fabulous lead character and a great supporting cast in a setting made for some murder and crime solving?
Start reading the next Rose McHugh mystery now — perfect for lovers of Sally Hepworth, Richard Osman and Ann Cleeves.
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PROLOGUE
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It’s dead quiet.
The walls seem to be holding their breath, the rafters clenched tight against the cold. Rose can’t shake the feeling that the house doesn’t want her here. Not for the first time, she wonders if Thornwood Park itself is evil, or if it’s merely a place where the echoes of evil can be heard.
She looks around the attic with its sloping roof, faint light from the bare bulb fading into its gloomy corners. She pulls her coat tight around her. It’s even colder up here than in the empty rooms below.
Around her are boxes full of mothÂeaten woollens and men’s suits, long out of fashion. Her nose twitches as she walks past a wooden crate overflowing with sheets grey from the damp. She had already looked through these and even searched the pockets of the suits, finding nothing more than train ticket stubs and bits of tobacco. But she was not looking for what she hopes to find now.
Rose’s eyes fall on a stack of old suitcases, their brown leather furred with mould. She had searched these and found nothing, but she didn’t know then that something had been intention ally hidden. If she were hiding a map, these suitcases would be her pick.
 She takes the smallest suitcase by its cracked handle. She opens it, reaching into the pockets on the sides, the cream ruched silk fraying at her touch. But they’re empty.
She reaches into the larger pocket lining the lid. Still nothing. She moves on to the next suitcase. Again, nothing.
She pulls the biggest case to a space on the floor, sending dust billowing upwards, making her eyes sting with tears. She opens it carefully. Once again, the pockets are empty and the fabric almost dissolves in her fingers.
Rose is about to close the suitcase when something catches her eye—a loose thread where a knot has been tied at the edge of the lining of the lid.
It occurs to her that if someone wanted to hide something, they might sew it behind the lining.
She works her fingers under the stitching and then stops. Was that a sound?
No. Just the hammering of her heart. She is pulling the lining away from the leather when—
A thud. Not her heart.
Then another thud. And another. Footsteps—a man’s foot steps. And he’s making his way up the stairs . . .
Extracted from Murder at Thornwood park by Joan Sauers.
Available from 2 June, 2026.
Murder at Thornwood Park
by Joan Sauers
Set within a village community all living at the edge of the atmospheric forests of the mysterious Southern Highlands, historian turned detective, Rose McHugh, channels her expert skills to solve an historical series of murders.