BURIED LIES by CHRIS COLLETT

Do you love gripping mysteries with great characters?

Discover Detective Tom Mariner in this critically acclaimed series.

‘Collett is a wonderful writer, subtle, clever, strong on atmosphere and character.’ Yorkshire Post

Detective Inspector Tom Mariner goes to the beautiful Welsh countryside to recover. But he finds himself caught up in a murder investigation . . . with him as the prime suspect.

Grieving the death of his former lover, all Mariner wants is some peace and quiet. But his walking holiday is ruined by the discovery of a body in the woods.

The remote stone farmhouses of this beautiful valley hide many buried secrets.

As more bodies are discovered, can Mariner clear his name and avoid becoming the next victim?

Discover an absorbing crime mystery with an action-packed conclusion.

Perfect for fans of Peter James, Ian Rankin and Peter Robinson. This is the sixth book in the DI MARINER SERIES, more books coming soon!

THE SETTING
Birmingham is a city of stark contrasts with a rich cultural and historical heritage. Playing a key role in the industrial revolution, it helped shape the nation’s manufacturing industry

But with its many green spaces, Birmingham also borders on the beautiful countryside of Worcestershire and Warwickshire, is just a few miles from Stratford on Avon and a short drive from the wild country of mid-Wales.

Birmingham’s population is large and ethnically diverse, and while urban regeneration has forged a modern and culturally vibrant city, the decaying remnants of the industrial past and 1960s concrete jungle give it a unique and gritty character; the dark underbelly policed by DI Tom Mariner and his team.

THE DETECTIVE
Detective Inspector Tom Mariner is, on the surface, an average dedicated policeman, but his experiences as a younger man have given him an insight into life on the dark side, and a clear sense of right and wrong. Mariner has little interest in material things. He lives in a modest canal-side cottage, enjoys the occasional (real) beer and game of dominoes and drives an old car. He is most at home in the outdoors, with an OS map and a compass, and in times of crisis, will take off and walk for miles in any weather.

THIS IS A REVISED EDITION OF A BOOK FIRST PUBLISHED AS “BLOOD AND STONE.”

DI MARINER SERIES
Book 1: Deadly Lies
Book 2: Innocent Lies
Book 3: Killer Lies
Book 4: Baby Lies
Book 5: Married Lies
Book 6: Buried Lies
Books 7 coming soon

Author Bio

Chris Collett grew up in a Norfolk seaside town where she worked in a boarding house (now defunct) a local bakery (closed down) and a crisp factory (razed to the ground). Graduating in Liverpool, Chris has since taught children and adults with varying degrees of learning disability, including autism. She is now a university lecturer, with two grown up children, and lives in Birmingham; DI Tom Mariner’s ‘patch’. She has published short stories, teaches creative and crime writing and is a manuscript assessor for the Crime Writers Association.

The first five DI Tom Mariner books will be released in revised editions by Joffe Books in 2017/2018.

Links
Website:  www.chriscollettcrime.co.uk

Twitter: @crime_crow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chris.collett.5477

My Review:

Another great DI Mariner story. I loved the twists and suspense in this story. The dedication to the job by DI Tom Mariner and his team always makes the book so much better to read.

Even when on vacation, Tom cannot get away from the job. It seems to follow him no matter where he goes. DI Tom Mariner needs to get away and let his mind wander and clear after attending the funeral of his ex, Anna. He decides to go to Wales and walk the path that he walked when he was a young man. He isn’t sure there are any of the people left in the area so many years later, but the familiarity of the area helps him. He finds that there is someone still living in the small town where he stayed at a hostel and worked on the local farm. He runs into an old lover and finds that she is engaged and has two children. Tom stays in the run-down hostel for a few days while he is walking the paths in the area. He has a hard time shutting down the detective side of him, and when he is run over by someone on the trail, has to convince the man to tell him what has him so spooked and running through the woods like he is.

DI Mariner is unlucky in this story as he finds not only one dead body, but two and he is a suspect in the death on one because they were sharing a room. There are several murders in this story, and the twists of the murderer and the victims drew me to think that the murderer was one person, but in the end one murder is not clear as to who the murderer is. The intertwining of the lives of the people in this story was complex and interesting all the same.

I give this story a 4.5 star review and really look forward to the next DI Tom Mariner story to answer some questions that were created at the end of this book. I highly recommend all the books in the DI Mariner series, they are full of twists and always have me surprised by who the murderer is as well as the reason behind the crimes.

BOOK DESCRIPTION

An unwanted pregnancy. A kidnapping. Escape…

University student Jemma Howell’s life has turned upside down: she’s pregnant and her boyfriend has just died.

A lawyer manipulates Jemma to sign away the child to her dead boyfriend’s parents, the wealthy Winchesters.

Six months after giving birth, Jemma is still obsessed with her baby’s welfare. A chance opportunity occurs. She makes a split-second decision.

She is now a kidnapper and on the run. Detective Constable Tim Findlay is assigned to the Winchester kidnapping, his first big case.

In the course of the investigation, he and his partner uncover deeply hidden secrets about the Winchester family.

For Tim, the difference between right and wrong becomes blurred.

BYE BABY BUNTING is a page-turning psychological suspense that explores society’s attitudes to single parenting and adoption and the laws that apply to birth-mother, child and adoptive parents. The story takes place in Auckland, New Zealand, Hawaii and Winnipeg, Canada between 1963 and the present.

Author Bio

Dr Tannis Laidlaw has worn many hats in her career as a psychologist: clinician in private practice, in psychiatric bins and in the prison service; researcher in schizophrenia, anxiety, psychopathy and other personality disorders, mind-body interactions, and the therapeutic use of hypnosis; research manager; writer and lecturer.

She has always been fascinated by the human condition, not only in those with crossed wiring but also when ordinary people are driven to behave in extraordinary ways. Her fiction reflects her psychological background; her non-fiction, her interests as a wife, mother and friend.

Tannis lives with her husband in Auckland, but spends half her time at a deserted beach in Northland, the semi-tropical northern part of New Zealand, and in a remote cabin in the woods on a Canadian lake – all places where she writes and writes and writes.

Website: www.tannislaidlaw.com

Follow @TannisLaidlaw

My Review:

I really enjoyed reading this book. It took a few pages for me to get into it, but once I began reading the story it was hard to put down. Being a child of the 1960’s it was easy to read this book and see where Jemma was coming from and her feelings about being looked down upon due to her pregnancy. I really liked how the story was written with the prologue giving you an insight into the story, and then the story starting from the beginning of Penny’s life.

This was a story of love, loss, and family but with the added psychological distress that Jemma went through giving up her baby and the despair that she felt about wanting her back and knowing her. Graemme was an added bonus to the story. He was a man that knew that Jemma was wrong, but his feelings for her overpowered his belief that she was in the wrong. Tim was a also an added bonus to the story with his detective work and his loyalty to his superior officer, Sarge. He was upset that they were given the low work, but he never really got angry with Sarge for the fact that his mess up caused this. He worked with him and he respected him.

I would like to know how things work out now with Jemma, Tim, and Penny’s family. I hope there will be another book coming along to answer the questions that were left at the end of this one. I give this story a 4 star review and look forward to reading more books by Ms. Laidlaw.