I’d like to thank Canelo and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘Lies To Tell’, the third in the DI Clare Mackay series written by Marion Todd, in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

DI Clare Mackay is taken to a high security establishment by DCI Alastair Gibson where they meet Gayle Crighton, an ethical hacker working for Police Scotland, who tells them there’s a serious security breach coming from Clare’s office. Clare’s told not to discuss it with anyone on her team as it’s top secret so who can she trust to confide in? Meanwhile, as Clare is involved with keeping Tamsin Quinn safe as she testifies against her husband Phil, extra pressure is put on her as the body of a young student is discovered in the local park.

‘Lies To Tell’ is a thoroughly enjoyable police procedural thriller and DI Clare Mackay is fast becoming one of my favourite characters, I can’t read enough of her. The explanation given for money laundering on popular selling sites makes the story feels realistic and tells me something I’ve often wondered about. The plot is well-thought-out, it has tension and drama, twists and turns, and culminates with a heart-stopping finale. Thank you, Ms Todd, for yet again giving me hours of great reading, but there’s one thing that’s got me wondering – who does Clare choose to drive her home? I shall have to wait for book four to find out.

Another great book by Marion Todd! I was so excited to read this book and it didn’t let me down. Murder, hacking, money laundering, deceit, and relationships all come together to make “Lies to Tell” a book that was impossible to put down.

I was really looking forward to this one and I’m so glad to say it didn’t disappoint. I honestly though I had it figured out a couple times and each time I was pleasantly surprised to say I was wrong! It was a very engaging title and I can’t wait for the next instalment.

Another gripping installment in the Clare Mackay series by Todd, really enjoy this character whose personal life is affecting her professional career, Todd weaves a clever and intelligent plot

When her prearranged team meeting is cancelled by her boss, DCI Alastair Gibson, DI Clare Mackay is confused and not a little cross. As he then takes her on a long drive to a secret location her confusion only increases. It seems someone is leaking vital information preventing arrests being made and cases closed. Sworn to secrecy by ethical hacker, Gayle Crichton, who will be joining her team, Clare heads back to her St Andrews base trusting no one and considering everyone with a heightened level of doubt.

As they leave their meeting Alastair is notified of a breach at a local safe house and suddenly Clare finds herself responsible for a key witness due to give evidence in a high profile court case the following week. With the stakes high for Police Scotland, and even higher for DCI Gibson, tension rises along with Clare's stress levels and then they find a body.

Once again Marion Todd has produced an excellent read and I thoroughly enjoyed this third book in the series, which is the best one yet, reading it in two sittings. The main protagonists are all familiar now and the dynamic between them is realistic and satisfying. I love Clare, she is a down to earth character who has doubts about herself which, when added to her obvious excellence at her job, give her a likeable personality and I want her to succeed.

The storyline was original and had twists and turns some of which were reasonably easy to decipher while others left me shocked at the turn of events and don't get me started on the finale; I absolutely need another book quickly please!

I was able to read an advanced copy of this book thanks to NetGalley and the publishers in exchange for an unbiased review and would recommend it to lovers of this series or anyone looking to jump right in as there are very few spoilers. The series is excellent and comes highly recommended.

Another cracking read from this author. Have read all the books in the series and they’ve all been fantastic. Love the way they end on a cliffhanger to start the next one. Can’t wait for it!

I loved the setting of this book as well as the main characters. Well thought out and engaging with enough surprises and a twist to keep me guessing til the end. Enjoyed, thank you.

Once again, I find myself dropping into a series midstream. But there were so many high ratings for this book, I had to request it. And I had no trouble reading this as a stand alone.
I took to DI Clare Mackay as she enjoys her cottage and her dog. But she finds herself in a predicament as her newly separated boss seems to want to get friendly. She also finds herself in a predicament at work. She’s brought in to not one, but two, top secret investigations. The first is the search for a security breach within the department. The second is to keep safe a key trial witness. And on top of them, she’s got a murder investigation of a university student.
This was a fast paced book and Todd led me on a merry chase trying to keep up with the three different storylines. I enjoyed all three of the main characters - Clare, her DS, Chris and her DI, Alistair. Clare is smart, but she’s not infallible. And while Todd ties up all the various mysteries, she leaves us with a cliffhanger regarding Clare’s personal life.
This was a very enjoyable police procedural. The St. Andrew's setting was well defined and I could feel myself there. Another series I’ll be following and fingers crossed I can find time to read the first two books.
My thanks to netgalley and Canelo for an advance copy of this book.

Another decent instalment in this series set in the not so sleepy Scottish Highlands.
There are lots of threads to the plot that are woven together really well with just enough hints to keep you guessing and the right amount of humour to provide some lightness.

Lies to Tell is another outing for Marion Todd’s DI Clare Mackay and it is another very good police procedural thriller with a number of twists and turns.

Based in St Andrews Mackay is faced with the protection of a high profile witness; the body of a dead student and a potential serious leak of data. These numerous story strands keep the pages turning until they are pulled together in a well written finale.

My only slight reservation with this book is that I worked out two of the strands but don’t let that put you off reading what is the latest instalment of a good and enjoyable series

Recommended

One of the things that most annoys me about books (although I really shouldn't complain) is when you find a great author, but then they take aaages to release a new novel. So it's like all my birthdays have come at once with the third book in the DI Clare McKay series by Marion Todd.

The underlying narrative follows on from In Plain Sight, but what faces DI McKay and her team is far from similar to the last case. In fact, she in plunged into the secretive world of ethical hacking, witness protection and questioning who can you really trust.

Putting COVID-19 aside, the themes in the book are really current to the world we are living in right now, and if you stop and think about it, they are a bit scary though.

There are multiple story lines running through the story, as you can imagine with 'real' police investigations. It's not difficult to keep up though, and there are plenty of breadcrumbs for you to play amateur detective!

This is another strong novel from Marion Todd, let's hope we don't have to wait too long for the next!

Love the Clare Mackay novels. Great writing and premise. Page turner. Amazing characters. Plenty of suspense to keep me enthralled. Definitely look forward to her next offering. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review it.

This is the third novel to include DI Clare Mackay, based in St Andrews, and another great read. I love it as we get two see the characters grow over a series, it makes them become more real, like we know them.

Clare is asked to meet her boss in a top secret location, here she is introduced to Gayle Crichton and ethical hacker who reveals that there is a leak a Police Scotland. This makes things tough for Clare as she struggles to keep this a secret from her team as well as trying to manage security for a vulnerable witness, a murder and a missing person enquiry, hard when you have no idea who you can trust.

The whole story is told through Clare’s point of view, with plot twists and connections the reader can try and pick up or maybe miss. The story is well written, with lots of plot strands all managing to come together without making it too difficult to follow. Clare is an intelligent, capable, feisty woman especially when it comes to her job, maybe her home life isn’t quite as good. With her red wind and ready meals, seems there is something missing from her life. Maybe in the future things will change who knows.

I loved this Clare is a great rounded character, she is believable and likeable, the story and plot is well written, and one I would highly recommend. A great series so far, I look forward to more.

I would like to thank #netgalley and #Canelo for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest, fair and unbiased review.

Lies To Tell is book number three in the DI Clare Mackay series. I have loved all three so far. This one feels a little different because we get to read more about Clare’s private life. There is a great storyline going on but I don’t like to write about them in my reviews. This is another fantastic book and having it set in Fife is the icing on the cake for me (I grew up there!) I highly recommend reading all three books. Marion Todd is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors. Please write book number four soon because you can’t keep us hanging on with that ending! Brilliant stuff

I would like to thank Netgalley and Canelo for an advance copy of Lies To Tell, the third novel to feature St Andrews based DI Clare Mackay.

Clare is asked to meet her boss under mysterious circumstances and is driven to a top secret location where she meets Gayle Crichton an ethical hacker who reveals that there is a leak at Police Scotland. Struggling to keep this knowledge secret from her team while handling security for a vulnerable witness, a murder and a missing person enquiry makes Clare’s life stressful, especially as she can trust no one.

I thoroughly enjoyed Lies To Tell which is an absorbing read with a multi stranded plot and a few good twists. It is told entirely from Clare’s point of view so the reader can get their sleeves rolled up and investigate alongside her. I did my best but didn’t see any of the twists or connections that Clare saw, although, to be fair, she missed some too. I was gripped from start to finish as there are so many agendas in play. It’s not hard to keep up as everything is clearly explained and logical and despite all the different plot strands it doesn’t feel overly busy, just another day in a stressful job.

I like Clare Mackay who is an ordinary woman in an extraordinary job. She is smart and capable even if her home life is a bit of a car crash, no time for much except red wine and ready meals and she gets her solace from a new Mercedes. This may be changing with developments in her love life but that’s the cliffhanger in this novel, who knows? I find the professional side of the novel very convincing but there’s something slightly off about her personal life, not in the detail but as if the author isn’t quite as comfortable writing about it so it seems a bit stilted.

Lies To Tell is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

This is an excellent police procedural. Part of a series with each part as good as the last. Strong descriptive writing evoking a sense of the area. A twist that you certainly didn’t see coming, makes for a very entertaining read. Strongly invested in the female lead and looking forward to the next in the series. My thanks to Net galley, the publisher and the author for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

When we meet up with DI Clare Mackay again she's at Daisy Cottage on the outskirts of St Andrews with her English Bull Terrier, Benjy. She's just had a postcard from Geoffrey Dark and he's in Provincetown, Cape Cod. He wishes that she was there, but Clare's struggling to think of what he actually is to her now. Is he her boyfriend? Her ex-boyfriend? She can't work it out and thinks that Geoffrey probably can't either. Work's about to get very busy and she can't work out why DCI Alastair Gibson has cancelled a meeting she'd arranged without discussing it with her first. They're off somewhere top secret.

She and Gibson have never really got on, but she's sympathetic when Gibson tells her that he and his wife, Alison, are divorcing. He's about to move out of his home and he's already had to trade down to a less expensive car. The morning is going to get stranger though - they're off to meeting with an ethical hacker, Gayle Crichton, who is going to use an office at St Andrew's to look into a possible leak from Police Scotland. Mackay and Gibson are allowed to leave under terms of strict security: they mustn't discuss what they've been told inside any building or vehicle and they must not confide in anyone else about what they've been told.

Clare would normally have told her DS, Chris West, but doing so could cost her her job. The atmosphere between them is a little strained, but they have to look into the murder of a student, Johannes Muller. Muller's friend, Marek Schmidt had come to the station to report Johannes missing a few days ago but had left suddenly. Clare Mackay is keen to talk to Marek. DCI Gibson is on edge as a big case he's been working on is finally coming to trial in Edinburgh. Tamsin Quinn has been granted immunity if she will testify against her husband, Phil Quinn on charges of gun-running. Gibson knows that it could all very easily go wrong and Tamsin Quinn is in a safe house, waiting for the beginning of the trial. Ethical hackers have to be forgotten about as far as possible!

I was delighted when Lies to Tell came my way. The first two books in the series were good reads and the series has a great deal of promise. The characters are excellent: Mackay isn't perfect but she's doing her best and a rather extravagant car has cheered her up after the departure to the States of her boyfriend. She's doing her best but knows she's not infallible. There's a good pairing with DS Chris West, whose fiancee thinks he's on a diet but doesn't know about the hidden stock of Wagon Wheels, or the clandestine visits to the chip shop.

I had my doubts about one character (rightly, as it turned out) but it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book: I might have had strong suspicions about the who but I certainly hadn't grasped the motivation. It's a story with plenty of twists and a great deal of action. I'd like to thank the publishers for letting Bookbag have a review copy: I can't wait for what Marion Todd writes next!

The book would read quite well as a standalone, but you'd get more out of it if you'd read one or both of the earlier books. The current pricing means that for less than a fiver you could get three very good books. What's not to like?

I really enjoyed reading this and it’s my favourite of the DI Clare Mackay series so far. Clare and team are investigating a murder, shielding a witness in an ongoing trial and if that wasn’t enough, there’s a critical security breach in Police Scotland. With all this going on it would have been easy to get things confused but the author did a great job of managing the different threads of the story and was even able to include a fair bit of Clare’s home life too. I hope there’s plenty more to come in this series.

Lies To Tell is author Marion Todd's third book in the excellent DI Claire Mackay series. This time around Mackay is taken by her boss to a secure location in the Scottish hills where security is tight and secrecy reigns. There she meets ethical hacker Gayle Crichton who enlists Mackay's help in tracing the source of a leak from within Police Scotland. The twist? She can't discuss this with anyone, it must remain top secret! Added to this Mackay must protect a prosecution witness whose location has been leaked and investigate the murder of a university student. While I'd still recommend reading this series in order (See Them Run, In Plain Sight and now Lies To Tell), Lies To Tell can be read as a standalone book without much difficulty. I admit that I love stories revolving around hacking and secrecy and I'd have quite happily read the book for this story alone but the addition of the other plot lines and unexpected connections just add to the intrigue. I wrote previously that See Them Run was a very good debut novel, then In Plain Sight went up several gears, and I can definitely say now that with Lies To tell, Marion Todd is, or should be, firmly in the company of premier league crime fiction writers. Long may the series continue. Recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and Canelo for ARC.

When DI Clare Mackay is asked to cancel meetings with her team in St Andrews and accompany her boss DCI Alastair Gibson to a meeting with a security expert re leaks which could only come from Police Scotland, Clare's life is turned upside down .
Then Clare has to keep a witness for a high profile case under wraps until her testimony is given when a student's body is found in a local park are all these crimes connected or is it a crime wave. It isa down to Clare and her team to unravel the mysteries.

I think this series is getting better as the characters develop and the twists and turns of a small station try to solve them. Really enjoyed this book.