I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of Buried Lies (from NetGalley). All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This novel started with a bang and then dulled to a slow burn in the middle. By the end, I completely understood the motivations of the antagonist(s) which were a bit burried and did not come to surface until nearly the finale. (These were also nearly unpredictable, which I absolutely love!). This book really did keep guessing. I thought it ended rather abruptly though, and so I had to reread to find the power of the big reveal. I guess I severely underestimated the importance of one of the background characters--which clearly demonstrates the unpredictability!!! Thank you to NetGalley and Chris Collett for the ARC.

This is the 6th book in the Detective Tom Mariner series by author Chris Collett. I got hooked on this series a while ago when I was intrigued by the write up on another book from the series and decided to give it a try. I really enjoy the characters who are in the main strong and very likeable as well as the well thought out plots. The books can be read out of order and would work as stand alone's but for maximum enjoyment better read in sequence. This book was originally published under the title 'Blood and Stone' and the series re released with the new titles all having 'Lies' in the name.
In this story, Tom Mariner is on a 2 week compassionate leave holiday following the murder of his ex lover. Looking for a quiet break in Wales to refocus his thoughts Mariners plans are turned into a bus mans holiday when he ends up in a murder investigation. The book is maybe a little slower paced than some of the previous books in the series but I enjoyed the character building and the suspense that increases chapter by chapter. The author keeps the mix of the lead character Tom Mariner's personal and professional life just right resulting in another excellent book.
I would like to thank Net Galley and Joffe Books for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Fantastic story, hooked from page one! Through twists and turns this story had you impatient to read more. DI Mariner is a very likeable character that you wanted to route for. Hope to find more stories with him involved.

I really loved the main characters and the brilliant plot. I read this book in one sitting and could not put it down. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

Another fantastic read in the DI Mariner crime thriller series, as always the books are best read in order to get the most out of the series but there's just enough background information if you want to read it as a stand-alone. After the violent death of his ex-girlfriend Mariner decides to have a break in the remote Welsh mountains where he hopes to find some peace and come to terms with his loss. No such luck, he gets embroiled in several murders, first as a witness and then a potential suspect, With very little to go on he asks for help from his team in Birmingham who do some background searches for him. This book is gripping and action-packed, I loved it

Buried Lies is a re-release of the 6th book in the D.I. Mariner police procedural series set in the UK. However, since I have not read books 1-5, it is completely new to me. I was jumping in blind but it was not too hard to catch up with Detective Mariner who was on a walking holiday around Wales after suffering a personal loss. The book had a lot of sub-plots going on with an introduction to a killer on the loose whose path may or may not intersect with Mariner, action at home in Birmingham with Mariner’s co-worker D.I. Knox and Mariner stumbling over body after body in the Welsh countryside. Mariner mourns the loss of a romantic partner and has romantic encounters with two or three women throughout his travels. I enjoyed the book but it did seem like that the author was trying to pack in as many subplots as possible like throwing darts at a dartboard and seeing what sticks. It was a lot going on but then some parts of the book moved very slowly while the ending was rushed. My interest is piqued enough to read more of the series though.
Thanks to NetGalley, Joffe Books, and author Chris Collett for the advanced reader’s copy.

Definitely not the best in this series, it seems Mariner can't even take a holiday without being embroiled in a crime spree.

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

DI Tom Mariner is on a 2-week leave of absence following the death of a loved one. He's decided to go back where his memories are much happier ... a small corner of Wales. He's always liked to hike and it will give him the time to think and remember and grieve without a ton of people, no matter how well wishing they are, watching his every move.

What he doesn't expect is to be drawn into a murder case. And more surprising ... as the prime suspect.

This area of Wales is full of old, stone farmhouses ... and Mariner will have to ferret out the decades-old secrets that they hide.

Once again, this author has put together another exciting and suspenseful adventure of Tom Mariner. And once again, it was hard to put down for any length of time. It's a suspenseful mystery with some colorful characters. Mariner is well drawn and it's been interesting following his professional life, as well as his personal.

This is 6th in the series, and although this one does well as a stand alone, I recommend starting at the very beginning. It will keep you engaged for hours.

Many thanks to the author / Joffe Books / Netgalley / Books n All Promotions / Jill Burkinshaw for the digital copy of this crime fiction.

Thank you Netgalley and Joffe Books for the eARC.
This was previously published as Blood and Stone and it's the 6th installment in the DI Mariner series.
After the funeral of his ex-girlfriend Anne, Mariner decides to take a hiking trip in the mountains of Wales. He is in shock after Anne's brutal murder and needs time to gather himself. At the same time as he embarks on his trip a murderer is on a rampage, committing revenge killings and ending up in the same area as Tom, Tom reconnects with a girlfriend from many years ago and finds lodging with her. A murder nearby has him as the main suspect and he enlists the help of DS Tony Knox back in Birmingham.
I enjoyed the book, it was an enticing read; enjoyable with the atmospheric descriptions of his walking trips. However, the ending was very abrupt and didn't answer questions I had, hopefully there will be follow up in the 7th installment. I'm still not crazy about Mariner, preferring Tony as a character. Plus, I did worry a lot about Nelson, the dog, he seems to be neglected a bit, too much time alone! For those reasons I'm only giving it 3.5 stars.

Read this already as Blood and Stone. Great book in a great series. DI Mariner is a really good character and i have enjoyed following him through the series. Looking forward to the next one

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.

I was very disappointed with this, the sixth instalment of the Tom Mariner series. Having loved all the others, I only persevered with this book because I felt obliged to review it; otherwise I would have abandoned it. For the first quarter of the story, nothing really happens. An ex-convict goes round killing people he feels a grudge against, but as we have never encountered these people it was hard to feel much emotional involvement. Tom goes to Anna's funeral - I never liked her - and then sets off on a walking holiday. We hear about his travels in unnecessary detail. Tony's neighbour has not been walking his dog.

Once more people turn up murdered, the plot does pick up slightly, but again these are people the narrative has either not introduced us to while living at all, or only barely. I just couldn't bring myself to care too much about any of it.

Hopefully the seventh book is a return to form.

This is the sixth in the series by Chris Collett featuring DI Tom Mariner set in Birmingham with its diverse inhabitants. The tone in this novel is markedly different with the grief and sorrow engulfing Tom after the horror of the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Anna Barham. He is need of personal space and a break from normal life and its routines after having the stuffing knocked out of him, so Tom embarks on a rural walking holiday in the mountains of Wales. However, peace is to elude him as murder once again enters his life when he discovers a dead body in the woods, and finds himself a suspect. Back in Solihull in Birmingham, DS Tony Knox looks into a tragic incident. Collett does a wonderful job in connecting the disparate threads together in this compelling and highly readable piece of crime fiction.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy of Buried Lies, the sixth novel to feature DI Tom Mariner of the Birmingham police.

The murder of Mariner's ex-girlfriend, Anna Barham, has hit him hard so, after the funeral, he takes off on a solitary walking holiday in Wales but it turns out to be a busman's holiday as he gets embroiled in a murder investigation. In the meantime DS Tony Knox is investigating a crime close to home.

I thoroughly enjoyed Buried Lies which is a departure from the other books in the series, being more about Mariner and his problems than a procedural. The novel is a slow burner investigatively and rather inconclusive in its solution but I was glued to the pages. From the police point of view very little happens in the first third of the novel with Knox having peripheral involvement in a tragedy in his neighbourhood and Mariner wallowing in his sense of loss, so the action centres on the perpetrator, his heinous crimes and trying to work out his motive. It doesn't sound like much and I skim read much of the countryside/walking descriptions but I still found it a fascinating read as the author slowly builds momentum and pulls the pieces together. The solution is nothing like I expected at the beginning and comes as quite a surprise.

It is a quieter, more reflective Mariner that we meet in this novel. Always a loner, he seems more solitary and paradoxically more impulsive. It is this dichotomy in his character that makes the novel so compulsive. The reader never really knows what he's going to do next.

Buried Lies is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending.

Poor Jamie, just when his life seems settled, it gets upset all over again. Tom Mariner needs time out following the death of Anna and so after her funeral he sets off to walk the Black Mountains. Death seems to be stalking him though. Whilst he's caught up in murders along his way, back home in Solihull a girl is taken ill and dies after taking a tablet at a 15 year old's birthday party. Is there a link?

A good book, with very human characters.