The Thames is probably the most storied river in the world.

Its 215 mile expanse from its source at Campbell in Gloucestershire

to the far reaches of the estuary where it joins the North Sea on the East Coast

featuring countless poems, novels, songs, paintings and folk tales.

The presence of the river has even become closely associated with patriotism and Britishness.

It's where royal pageants are held, and the most important buildings in the UK's capital city stand on its banks. But the Thames also has a dark side.

For just as long, its fast-flowing tidal waters have attracted those with something to hide

or business to transact out of the reach of the authorities.

Beneath London's famous bridges, a parallel lawless city exists on the river, where bodies can be quietly disposed of, or contraband goods smuggled away.

For this reason, the river is also a popular character in detective fiction,

with new stories constantly being added to its existing mythology.

Of course, many of them do centre on London, but there's also marvelous crime writing encompassing all parts of the river,

turning its peculiar disposition and attributes into clever elements of a who-done-its plot.

So, strap on your sea legs and hold on tight. Today, we're going on the Thames.

Welcome. terms. Welcome to She Dun it.

I'm making this

podcast now. You see, for the past five years or so, I've been working on a book of my own.

I am sorry to say that it's not a detective novel, although there is quite a lot about Harriet Vane in Chapter 1, I couldn't help myself.

It's a narrative non-fiction book all about The Thames, in particular it's Estuary and my own relationship to it.

Part memoir, part nature writing, part history, I'd say is an accurate description of it.

It's called The Way to the Sea and it focuses particularly on the myths and stories that have been woven around the Thames from source to sea over the centuries, from apocryphal tales of monsters and demons, to verifiable accounts of shipwrecks and great floods. and

as for why I'm sharing this with you now, well, the book is finally published on the 6th of June.

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