Anita Waller is on top form with Fatal Secrets, the brilliant first installment in her new Forrester Detective Agency series.

Matt Forrester had followed his dad’s footsteps and climbed the career ladder to become a DI. Matt never imagined doing anything else – until an urgent call for help and devastating news forces him to rethink and reassess his entire life. His dad has been murdered and Matt will move heaven and earth to find his father’s killer and ensure that justice is served. With his boss sleeping with his former wife, Matt has got his hands full, but he will not rest until whoever murdered his father is behind bars for the rest of their life.

His sister Hermia had not joined the police force, but is a researcher at the university. The news of their father’s murder turns her entire world upside down and nothing will stop her from helping out her brother to bring their dad’s killer to justice. The Forrester siblings are certainly up against it and they will need to trust their instincts and not let their guard down because there’s danger wherever they go and if they’re not careful, they might be joining their dad in the morgue.

You can always reply on Anita Waller to keep her readers glued to the pages of her novels and she has done it again with Fatal Secrets. A fast-paced page-turner spiced with tension, twists and turns and danger and suspense, Fatal Secrets is an enjoyable and nail-biting crime novel that continues to affirm Anita Waller’s standing as one of crime fiction’s most ingenious and gifted writers.

DI Matt Forrester receives a call from his dad in distress, who is former detective, but since he was shot on duty, is now a PI. On arrival, Matt finds his dad dead, and his work partner fatally injured. His nemesis, and person he caught his wife in bed with, Supt Brian ‘di@khead’ Davi’s, is put in charge of the case and refuses to allow Matt to investigate, resulting in Matts resignation. He sets out to investigate what happened to his dad with the aid of his sister, Hermia, best friend Steve and DS Karen Nelson. However, whoever killed his dad, also has a vendetta against Hermia and things take a dramatic personal twist. They need to find the killer before someone else dies.
Anita Waller is a great story teller and the characters seemed very familiar. You quickly came up to speed on their backgrounds and spurred them on to find the truth. With full on action, the characters still found time for some romantic connections! Can’t wait for more books in the series. You won’t be disappointed with this read, and will soon divulge it.

Fatal Secrets by Anita Waller is the first book in a new series, "Forrester Detective Agency". This is a smashing book, which introduces us to the principal characters of the book quickly and just moves onto the story at a brisk pace.

We are introduced to Detective Matt Forrester, who has followed his father's footsteps as a police officer, and his sister who is a scientist. When a fatal attack leads to the death of their father, Matt vows to find the culprit. His search for the truth takes him through his father's client list and also to other people around him. There is also the matter of his father's Investigative agency and his decision of whether he can take it up and run it.

Author Waller has written a succinct, crisp and taut story which features enough personal business of the main characters to keep the readers hooked. I felt the emotional side of the characters could have been given more depth. Except for that I liked the book and would recommend it for people who like to read steamy romance.

Well written with a compelling storyline and well developed characters, who really helped make this book for me. A really enjoyable read that leaves me excited for more to come

Thank you to NetGalley, publisher and author for the ARC of this awesome book. I really liked the relationship between Matt, Hermia, their dad and Steve. I enjoyed their banter and how much they showed their love for each other. I also liked their individual personalities. The story was so entertaining and engrossing. After reading the last page, I was left wanting to continue to read more!

I am so excited that this is the first in a series!! I cannot wait for more.

This is a read which has been addictive since the very first chapter. I have devoured this one.

This is perfectly paced and one that I have been caught up in. I can safely say I have a soft spot for Matt already. He is just a wonderful character from the beginning. I cannot wait to revisit him in future books.

This is every bit as fantastic as I had hoped. This is perfectly paced and completely brilliant.

OMG this book was great and I can not wait for the next one in the series to come out! I really loved the interplay between the siblings and his best friend. I also love a happy ending so I can't wait to see where both of their new relationships are going! Write fast, Anita Waller, I want more! Off to look up her backlog of books to add to my TBR!

#FatalSecrets
#NetGalley

Every book I have read by this author I have Loved from beginning till the end and this latest book Fatal Secrets by Anita Waller. Anita's Books just blow me away! they are always an excellent read and she always tells a good story. I highly recommend this book and all of her books. They are a good strong 4 or 5 star read,

What a great start to a new series! Matt Forrester is a detective with a close relationship with his sister Hermia, a researcher. Their father and his friend are former detectives who started a private investigation firm. Their father is killed and his friend is badly injured. Matt begins investigating but is promptly taken off the case since he is too close to it, and resigns so he can continue looking into it. At first he believes his father was killed by the man who crippled him in an attack years earlier, but when his father’s friend is able to talk he reveals a surprising twist as to who the target was. This was a suspenseful crime story and I look forward to the next in the series.

Anita Waller’s Forrester Detective Agency Mystery Series gets off to an amazing start with Fatal Secrets.

It begins with Dave Forrester and Johnny, his sidekick, pursuing a known criminal mastermind. When they caught up and got to his car, they found it empty. Dave ended up getting shot, which left him paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. Dave has high hopes that Matt would follow in his footsteps.

Matt Forrester and Hermia, his sister, were attending a sports event when he answered his phone to tragic news. Dave responds, “help,” and then the connection went dead. Matt and Hermina rushed to their dad’s detective agency and found Dave dead and his partner Johnny clinging to life.

Matt’s current boss is dating his ex-wife and he makes things challenging for Matt, by preventing him from investigating his father’s case, which resulted in Matt’s resignation. Matt intends to get to the bottom of who killed his father and Johnny, his partner, and why.

Matt’s best friend, Steve joined in the investigation, and with the assistance of Matt’s old team, working with him behind his ex-boss’s back, they dug and unraveled the threads of the case, and discovered that a member of their circle was in danger. The who and why were mysteries they had to uncover before it was too late. They would protect her at all costs.

Great mystery with a blockbuster ending. The side stories mingled throughout were a great addition. Hermina and Steve—seems he’d been yearning for her all their adult lives. Matt had caught his boss in a compromising position, in the matrimonial bed, with his now ex-wife. Not to mention, DS Karen, Matt’s married work partner. With her marriage up in smoke, she urged Matt to explore the flames that had been smothering between them and take their relationship to the next level.

Looking forward to the next installment in the series. I enjoyed the journey and tried hard to identify the killer, which I was not able to do until the end.

Initially, I found the beginning slow, then left the book for a few days and started over. I became hooked, maybe I was tired the previous time. It was a real page-turner all the way to the end. Anita Walker combined the perfect blend of characters, mystery, plot, and execution. She is a great storyteller and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Highly recommend!

Marie McKenzie.
Award-winning and #1 Bestselling author of
Things That Keep Me Up At Night

My Review: It took me a minute to get the idea of this page turning crime story. Dave Forrester a former DI is found dead and his sidekick former DS Johnny Keane is seriously injured. Both are Private Investigators who left the Police Force. The friendships and underlying romances are fascinating. Dave's son Matt and his daughter Hermia take the main stage as well as Steve who is Matt's best friend and DS Karen Nelson. It's complex page turning suspense frenzy with the target a lot closer to home. I definitely wanted to know sooner rather than later how the story plays out, which kept me reading to the end. A recommended read for those who enjoy this genre.

This has an interesting cast of characters that carry the story along a nice pace and create depth to the story. Great plot and I found myself filling an afternoon reading this in one sitting as I found it so enjoyable. Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest , unbiased review. 4 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is my first book from this author and definitively not the last! Anita Waller is a very talented author who wrote a crime mystery story with the perfect ingredients:
Fantastic main protagonists whom you get to like immediately.
Fantastic murder plot.
Beautiful setting of the Sheffield area.
Touch of romance adding softness to the gruesome aspects of murder storylines.
nice sense of humour.
Attention to food :)
This books sets nicely the beginning of what promises to be a very successful series of The Forrester Detective Agency.
The good news is that whilst waiting for her next instalment, Anita Waller has already written some amazing books that I can lose myself with.

This is one truly amazing novel that captured my imagination from the first page. It is a fast paced police procedural that had my heart racing. A well developed plot with great characters. I can't describe why I loved it but there was just something that grabbed me and I had no idea who the perpetrator was so I had to keep reading to find out. There is plenty of suprise twists and turns, action and suspense. I enjoyed the relationship between Hernia and her brother Matt and I was smitten with how caring and protective he is of her. Now I am really impatient for the next book in this breathtaking series.

Matt finds his father dead and is now looking to find who killed him, but when a twist of events tells him his sister is the target he must try to make sense of what is happening.

I loved the relationship Matt had with his sister, and how he interacted with the people around him. Waller writes great character’s that you can’t help but want to know more about. There were several twists in this novel which I didn’t see coming and very much enjoyed.

This is part of a new series and I look forward to reading the next installment.

This is not the first novel I have read by this author and I am obsessed with them. I will easily pick up a novel by this author and know it will be great.

It is 2013. DI Dave Forrester and DS Johnny Keane are in pursuit of a man called Andy Beardow, Sheffield’s most wanted since he murdered a female police officer. A shot rings out and Dave is injured, left in a wheelchair. He resigns and so does his loyal friend Johnny, joining Dave at his newly formed Forrester Investigation Agency where for the next nine years they live together and work mainly soft cases like adultery and missing persons. Meanwhile Dave’s son has risen to the rank of DI himself in South Yorkshire Police and is enjoying watching a football match with his sister Hermia, a university researcher, when he receives a life-changing phone call. At their offices, Dave lies dead and Johnny is critically ill. Matt starts to investigate, wondering if Beardow has returned to finish the job he started but soon butts head with his ex-wife’s new partner, Supt Brian “D***head” Davis and promptly resigns from his job. Joining forces with Hermia and his close friend and neighbour landscape gardener Steve, Matt is determined to find his Dad’s murderer and the trio take on the mantle of private detectives. However when Johnny recovers, he tells Matt the men were actually after Hermia, and events become a whole lot darker when she is attacked and her neighbour murdered. Could it be her newly acquired research into Gangland culture in the area that has put her in the sights of a murderer or is it connected to Dave’s current cases? Was he correct in believing that his computer had been hacked? With help from DS Karen Nelson and the rest of his old team of loyal detectives and working under the radar, Matt, Steve and Hermia set out to solve these cases and catch a ruthless clever killer before anyone else gets hurt.
This book was an absolute delight to read, with the humour and witty caring dialogue balancing out the grim nature of some of the discoveries made during the course of the investigations, of which there is a good healthy dose, culminating in a dramatic and breath taking ending. Brilliantly crafted, as always by this author, with characters who you can immediately love and care about, this is a superb start to a new series which I can guarantee will capture readers’ hearts and minds. I am already looking forward to book two!

This is my second Anita Waller book and I am so glad this is the first in a new series. It is so fast-paced and I was constantly left guessing with the cliffhanger chapters and multiple motives. The narrative is complex but the description makes it easy to feel like you are there with the detectives and feeling the emotions of the characters. After finishing the first instalment I am desperate to read the next.

‘Fatal Secrets’ is a blistering start to a brand new series from Anita Waller! I loved it - brilliant characters that have a great dynamic between them, a twisty thriller that keeps you guessing till the end and I can't wait for the next instalment. I flew through this in one sitting and especially loved the bond between the three main characters.

Matt Forrester followed his dad into the police force but never did he think he would have to say investigate his own dad’s murder. Retired from the force after a failed assassination he set up his own private investigation firm with an old friend. Matt now needs to see if it was any of this firm's cases that led to his murder. But when Matt is taken off the case he has a huge decision to make - carry on investigating the case even if it costs him everything… Teamed up with his sister Hermia and best friend Steve, Matt jumps right in!

It's rare that I gel with a team straight away in a series but I just fell for them from the get-go! The dynamic between the three of them was one of love, trust and undying support and we all need a bit of that in our lives, don't we? I think having the goal of working out who killed their father gave them a cohesive train of thought and belief in what they were doing, I wonder if that will continue in the series. It will be interesting to see how their relationships develop, especially with the mixture of family and romantic relationships!

This was one fast-paced book, from the opening chapters to the final resolution the reader barely has time to take a breath before the next revelation occurs! It makes for an exciting and addictive read and I for one can't wait for the next book!

Let me know if you read this one.

I really can’t imagine how our main character felt when they told him that his father and his best friend are in the hospital. But this is the tip of the iceberg, because this will make DI Matt Forrester’s life to change forever. And as soon as he sees that he will not be investigating the killing, he will resign from the police and start a new chapter in his life. An easy one? Not at all, but one that he will never regret starting.
I have to say that since I read the plot I was intrigued with the story, not something I am used to reading but couldn’t resist discovering! And let me say that “Fatal Secrets” is quite a book! Twisted, intriguing and with very interesting characters that you can’t stop wondering what will happen to them.
As an avid reader, I have a twisted mind and distrust many of the characters of the book, even Matt’s best friend! But, because you want to know what lies behind all the killings you can’t stop turning pages to know more about the story.
I really hope that we’ll see more cases with Matt Forrester as a PI; he is kind, intelligent and brave. And the case is not an easy one; dangerous and twisted it was quite easy to want more! If you are looking for a twisted case with trusting characters, this should be your next read.
Are you ready to discover all the “Fatal Secrets”?

DI Matt Foster has the police in his blood as his father was also a serving officer, now retired. Years beforehand his father was at a scene and was shot leaving him in a wheelchair. Since then he and a close friend have been running a PI agency mainly doing the mundane work of divorce and shadowing etc. Matt gets a call from his father asking for help in a faint voice. By the time he gets there it's too late, his father is dead and his partner Jimmy is critically ill. Matt's boss quickly arrives and takes him off the case- Matt responds by resigning, his DS however is loyal and promises to keep him abreast of the situation. He, his friend Steve and Matt's sister Hermia decide to find out for themselves why this terrible tragedy has happened. Could the man who shot their father finally have reappeared to finish what he started?

I very quickly got into this. Anita has a wonderful style of writing that quickly engages the reader in the characters and plot and I soon found myself liking Matt and his tenacity and determination. Hermia, Steve and Karen are also very very likeable and there's a good mix of plot, relationships and interaction between the characters. There is lots of drama and twists and turns which kept me very engaged within the pages- just how I like it. I didn't want this to end- but wanted to find out the who and what etc. A brilliantly crafted, well thought out plot with a twist. A very engaging read with characters I loved. A huge 5* from me

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