In the meantime, Jane had given birth to another child, a daughter allegedly fathered by John’s brother William. In spite of this, John and Jane resumed their relationship and when she fell pregnant again in June 1789 they married.
Less than three weeks later, after a night out at the Castle of Comfort Inn in July 1789, John is said to have beaten Jane to death and cut her throat, dumping her body in Dead Woman’s Ditch before going home.
Jane’s body was discovered by children, and John was arrested the next day. He was found guilty and sentenced to hang.
His last request was to speak to Ann. They said their farewells, but as they moved closer to embrace and kiss, the executioner separated them and John was hanged. His body was displayed in a gibbet – in view of his parents’ house – for a full year as a deterrent to others contemplating violence.
Some say that despite their break-up, Ann had continued to see John in secret, and that in November 1789 she gave birth to John’s daughter, Sarah. Ann died just months later.
The ‘version’ of events retold in The Night Stalker is my interpretation of the story, gleaned through research and speaking to locals. However, I do know that some of the facts have been questioned over the years. For example, some say that Dead Woman’s Ditch wouldn’t have been on John and Jane’s route home from the Castle of Comfort Inn and so her body wouldn’t have been found there, but would in fact have been found much closer to the village on the side of a road.
However, I have done my best to represent the story as I understand it, so any and all mistakes are my own.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My list of thank yous grows ever longer, but that in no way dilutes them. I am enormously grateful to the team I have behind me, to people old and new who have helped me with this book, the ones before and the ones to come.
A huge thank you to the Pan Macmillan team, in particular Kate Green, Stuart Dwyer, Susan Opie, Phoebe Taylor, Kate Tolley and Camilla Rockwood. To Justine Anweiler and James Annal for a fantastic cover – I love it. To Kate Bullows for being a one-woman sales machine for the South West. You continue to astound me. And last but by no means least, to Trisha. Thank you for your faith in me and your tireless efforts on my behalf. I’m very lucky to have you.
Thank you, as always, to Janklow & Nesbit and my agent, Hellie Ogden. You have gone above and beyond for me this year and I’m enormously grateful.
Thanks to Iain Porter for sharing your wealth of knowledge about the Quantock Hills and to Debs for lending me your husband for the day.
Thank you to Nicola and Ben for a fantastic day out in Bridgwater. I was lucky enough to go on a ride-along and pick their brains – all whilst trying to look cool as I desperately plugged in my seatbelt as we tore out of Express Park with the sirens blaring. I will be back for more ☺
An ongoing thank you to Mark, Sue and Leanne. Since 2016 was manic with books and baby I didn’t get to pillage your memory warehouses as much as I’d have liked. Never fear, you’ll be hearing from me soon!
To Grace for being good while Mummy works. To Mother for taking my books out of the library repeatedly and for all your support with the books and taking Grace out for very long walks! Thank you to my family and friends for your continuing love and support. This journey wouldn’t be the same without you all. The launch is the focal point of my year (thank you, Sam – this year’s cake for Trust No One was a masterpiece and tasted delicious, as always). There are too many of you to thank individually, but I hope you know how special you are and how grateful I am.
Thank you to Roger Stacey from the Friends of Nether Stowey for a really good gossip on the history of a village I never knew.
Thank you to Audible and Imogen Church for doing a wonderful job on the series. I love listening to my books almost as much as I love writing them, and that’s because of you.
And finally a big thank you to Chris Ewan, fellow crime writer and friend. How did I ever manage without you?! Whether we’re doing an event together, teaching or just chatting over coffee with your beautiful family, I’m learning. You have inspired me to think more, to be better and to always, always remember the hook – every good crime novel should have one. And every crime writer should have you, thank you.
That was the short version. If you want the longer version of why there are acknowledgements at the ends of books, read on . . .
They say it takes a village to raise a child. Well, I think the same applies to a book. The Night Stalker started out as a germ of an idea about a car crash at night. Over the past year with the help of research, feedback and input from my publisher, friends (old and new) and family, that initial idea has morphed into a story I hadn’t intended to tell.
When my editor Trisha Jackson suggested I base the next book in the Lockyer and Bennett series in Somerset I was delighted. I left London a few years ago and was worried I was losing my feel for the place because, let’s face it, a market town in Somerset and south-east London don’t have much in common. But the great thing about writing crime . . . you can kill someone anywhere. Murder is mobile!
I know the South West, having grown up here, and the Quantock Hills felt like the perfect place to set an eerie moonlit car chase. I’ve driven over the hills many times, and the barren and isolated feel at the ‘top’ never fails to give me the heebie-jeebies. As luck would have it, one of my NCT mums told me her husband worked for the AONB. And so, after a Sunday afternoon chat, I found myself in a 4x4 going up hill and down dale with Iain. I took pictures and asked a million questions until Iain said the magic words – Dead Woman’s Ditch. When he told me about the legend of John Walford it was music to my crime-writer ears. Legends, folklore and murder, oh my! I immediately phoned my editor and said, ‘Change of plan . . .’
And so the story began to shift, with more emphasis on myths and superstitions, but the changes weren’t done – not by a long way. By the time I had finished the first draft I had a niggling doubt. I loved the Dead Woman’s Ditch angle but I didn’t like the end of the book – the ‘why’ that’s so important to me when I write. So I made another call to my editor. ‘Change of plan . . .’
I spent an hour on the phone to Hellie and Trisha, and we talked through what had to come out of the book and what could, potentially, go in its place. You see, I’d decided to change the ending – I just didn’t know what I was changing it to. Fortunately, my brother Chris, who The Night Stalker is dedicated to, is a wonder. I basically phoned him and said, ‘Right. This, this, this, this and this is coming out of the story. This, this and this has to stay in. How on earth do I get from this to this and explain why this happened without changing this and this?’ The resulting two-hour conversation put me on track for the new ending and a book that I am thrilled with.
So, in short, without Trisha’s suggestion, Iain’s knowledge, my penchant for changing my mind, Trisha and Hellie’s patience and ideas, my brother’s ability to see a story from a whole different viewpoint, not to mention a ride-along and countless other conversations along the way, The Night Stalker wouldn’t be half the book it is today. So thank you to you all.
You are my village and I’m very thankful.
As The Night Stalker was going to print I discovered that one of the locations in the book, the Farmer’s Arms in Combe Florey, had been badly damaged by fire. I want to wish the owners the best and hope they are able to reopen very soon.
NEVER LOOK BACK
By Clare Donoghue
He’s watching. He’s waiting. He knows.
A chilling and compelling debut crime thriller set in south-east London. For all those who enjoy Peter James, Mark Billingham and Peter Robinson.
Three women have been found brutally murdered in south London, the victims only feet away from help during each sadistic attack. And the killer is getting braver . . .
Sarah Grainger is rapidly becoming too afraid to leave her house. Once an outgoing photographer, she knows that someone is watching her. A cryptic note brings everything into terr
ifying focus, but it’s the chilling phone calls that take the case to another level.
DI Mike Lockyer heads up the regional murder squad. With three bodies on his watch and a killer growing in confidence, he frantically tries to find the link between these seemingly isolated incidents. What he discovers will not only test him professionally but will throw his personal life into turmoil too.
NO PLACE TO DIE
By Clare Donoghue
Guilt for the past. Fear for the future.
The body of a female university student is found buried in Elmstead Woods, south London. The circumstances of her death are as unprecedented as they are frightening.
Two men admit to having had relationships with the girl just before she died.
Both deny murder.
Lewisham’s murder squad detectives Jane Bennett and Mike Lockyer must untangle a web of deceit if they are to stop this monster before more innocent lives are lost.
TRUST NO ONE
By Clare Donoghue
He never saw it coming. She always knew it would.
Marriage is complicated. It doesn’t always work out. Sometimes there are things you discover about yourself and each other which mean the marriage has to end. Sad, particularly when kids are involved – but all pretty normal.
Normal, that is, until there’s a murder.
DS Jane Bennett and DI Mike Lockyer are called in to investigate one of south London’s most difficult and distressing cases yet – where family and friends come under scrutiny in the hardest of circumstances.
THE NIGHT STALKER
After ten years in London, working for a City law firm, Clare Donoghue moved back to her home town in Somerset to undertake an MA in creative writing at Bath Spa University. Never Look Back was her first novel and in 2011 she was longlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger.
You can say hello to Clare on
Twitter @claredonoghue, or Facebook:
www.facebook.com/claredonoghueauthor
Also by Clare Donoghue
Never Look Back
No Place to Die
Trust No One
First published 2017 by Pan Books
This electronic edition published 2017 by Pan Books
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
20 New Wharf Road, London N1 9RR
Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-4472-8473-4
Copyright © Clare Donoghue 2017
Justin Krause Photography and Media;
Car image © Per Mattisson / Getty
Path image © James Osmond / Alamy
The right of Clare Donoghue to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Pan Macmillan does not have any control over, or any responsibility for, any author or third-party websites referred to in or on this book.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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Table of Contents
Title page
Dedication page
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
WALFORD
HISTORICAL NOTE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
NEVER LOOK BACK
NO PLACE TO DIE
TRUST NO ONE
About the Author
Also by Clare Donoghue
Copyright page
The Night Stalker (Detective Jane Bennett and Mike Lockyer series Book 4) Page 35
