Let me begin by saying that although this is book number nine in this series, it holds up well enough on its own as a stand-alone read.

However, I had two big issues with this one. The first being that the author often goes back and forth between using people's first and last names (for example in one sentence a character is referred to as Jesson, while in another that same character is referred to by her first name, Vicky) made it so I had to sometimes go back and try and figure out just who the author was referring to. When there are so many characters in play at any given time, it would have been helpful if the author had picked one name and been consistent in using it.

My second issue with this one is the fact that the over-lapping story-lines quickly become tedious with the amount of detail that is thrown at us. I get it, these are two different cases with highly different circumstances, however, I found myself quickly losing interest in both of the stories (especially the current case involving a man who died of natural causes, but was a person of potential interest due to the dead body found in his trunk at the time of the accident). Considering how strongly this novel started off, I was highly disappointed.

All things considered, while I don't feel like this is an author that I will enjoy, I may give them another chance down the road, and I do feel as though this novel will appeal to those who are already fans of this series.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

Thank you to #NetGalley for my advance copy of #MidnightLies by #ChrisCollett
Chris Collett is such a talented writer, and this series keeps getting better.
In this book while dealing with a case in the present time Tom also has to go back in time when a body is discovered of someone he knew when he was 16.
A really great read.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Another winner from Chris Collett in the DS Mariner series. I like her vivid descriptive scenes which seem so true to life. I thought it quite a hard hitting story and felt how it personally impacted on DS Mariner.

An excellent police procedural. Tom Mariner is asked to assist with a cold case in Norfolk which has a very personal connection. An enjoyable read.

Blurb:
A body is discovered at a property development sit near Norfolk, and after forensic examination, the remains belong to Robina Scanlon, a young girl who disappeared 40 years ago, and secondly, there is the story of Viktor Paszek, who dies a natural death during a car ride, and upon inspection, the police find out that there is a corpse in the back of his car.
The blurb sounded promising, and I was really looking forward to this book, but it proved to be a bit of a disappointment; halfway through it gets long-winded, with too much focus on silly details.
The story starts off exciting, and face-paced, but soon after it gets bogged down in two different storylines, which just don't come together. I really liked the story of Robina and the 'summer of love' with Mariner and his story about him leaving home to escape his suffocating mum.
I was less interested, and even I struggled with the storyline of landlord Viktor Paszek – dying of natural causes in a car accident, - initially no reason to investigate, - yet, also becoming a reason to investigate when the police find a corpse in the trunk of his car.
I found this bit boring, and couldn't connected with the persons involved; there was too much focus on his landlord business, and interviews with his tenants.
The story switches back and forth between these storylines. A decent police procedural, albeit I had expected more.


** Thank you Netgalley and Joffe Books for this ARC -

Ninth in the DI Tom Mariner series but can be read as a stand alone. Car crash, dead driver, no-one else involved. Seems tragic but clear cut, until someone opens the boot of the car and finds a mangled dead body in there. Lots of mis-directions there but eventually solved to a degree. Cold case relating to a missing girl from 1976, re-opened when a skeleton recovered and Tom returns to Norfolk to help out. The skeleton is indeed that of the missing girl, Robina, and she was the teenage romance of young Tom; holiday romance, teenage hormones raging and far too much about his thoughts of this at the time. A bit too many bits and pieces and certainly too much of teenage fumblings to make this one of the better Mariner stories for me. Thanks to NetGalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

There's lots going on in this book, three investigations to be precise and one worrying incident for Tom, where he is implicated in an accident involving a young suspect that he was chasing. There was one thing that I didn't like otherwise it would have been a 5*. I don't like when the author switches from using Christian names and Surnames. I find it a bit confusing especially if you aren't familiar with the characters.

Midnight lies by Chris Collett.
Detective Mariner Mystery Book 9.
Secrets, lies, bodies. Nothing stays buried forever . . .
It starts on an abandoned campsite in Norfolk.Developers unearth a human skeleton. The remains of an eighteen-year-old girl.Robina Scanlon — a blast from the past that shocks Detective Tom Mariner to his core.First love. Last breath.In the sweltering summer of 1976, the teenage Mariner fell for Robina instantly.
He thought she was the one who got away. Now he realizes she never even left.She was murdered back at the campsite where they met, all those years ago.Mariner drives to Norfolk, his head so full of ghosts he can barely think straight.What happened to his holiday romance?The mystery of her death becomes a dangerous obsession. Distracting him from a perplexing murder case on his home turf of Birmingham.As midnight approaches, someone out there will do anything to keep the past buried . . .
A very good read with good characters. I liked the story. I did like Tom. I'm looking forward to the next book. 4*.

DCI Ginny Reid loves her work in cold cases. She has just received a probable identification on Robina Scanlon, a girl who went missing over forty years ago aged eighteen and the cause of death on the remains unearthed on a building site is most likely to be strangulation. One of the victim statements from all those years ago turns out to be a copper – DCI Tom Mariner, the sixteen year old who had a holiday romance with Robina and returned home a few days before her disappearance. She was never seen again.
Meanwhile in Birmingham Mariner is in pursuit of someone who has just stabbed an old man on a bus. The attacker falls and injures himself while trying to make his escape. Tom knows the IOPC are sure to investigate. Then he is called to a strange traffic accident where the victim, an elderly man called Viktor Paszek, has gone off the road into a ditch and bizarrely, has a body in the boot! The second victim is South East Asian, possibly Vietnamese, and has horrific injuries from an impact or fall, while Paszek died from natural causes. So what, if anything, did Paszek know about the second man?
Reid and DC Scott Sinclair from Norfolk visit Tom and he offers to go there for a couple of days to try to help their investigation, leaving his great team of DS Vicky Jesson, DC Charlie Glover, DC Kevin Bingley and DC Millie Khatoon to dig deeper into Paszek and the unidentified man. Was there another darker side to Paszek that no one knew about? And will enough buried secrets come to light to solve the murder of Robina?
This was a great police procedural featuring two cases past and present and involving very topical themes. The dual storylines meant that the book never became stale showing the very different methods employed in current and cold cases, and it certainly captured my interest from start to finish. Mariner and all his colleagues are great, both as people and officers, and being left on a real cliff-hanger ending, I look forward to reading more in the series. 5*

Number nine in the DI Tom Mariner series, I have read the complete series but you could read this as a stand-alone.
After getting involved in an incident in Birmingham, where he lives and works, Tom is under scrutiny and has to take time off. Out of the blue a cold case in Norfolk from 1974 is reopened and his name comes up as a witness from the original investigation. He was just a teenager back then on holiday with his mother but with time on his hands he decides to travel to Norfolk and ends up helping to solve the case.
I really enjoyed reading this novel and learning more about Tom’s back story. Another intriguing British police procedural and I would definitely recommend this series to lovers of crime fiction.

This is the ninth book in the DI Mariner series by author Chris Collett. I have read this series from the very start and really enjoyed it but for some reason I didn’t find this one quite as gripping. Still a good read though.

The remains of an eighteen year old girl is found by developers on an abandoned campsite in Norfolk. The girl is identified as Robina Scanlon who back in the 1970’s had a relationship with Detective Tom Mariner when they met on holiday. Tom always assumed she had left him but all the time she was still on the campsite, murdered. Tom Mariner decides to head for Norfolk to face his past and try to uncover the truth.

I really like the lead character Tom Mariner but this book just didn’t hold me like the others. I fully intend to continue reading this series though.

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Joffe books for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

The remains of a young girl are discovered on a old campsite in Norfolk. It is a discovery that is a bit close to home for Detective Tom Mariner as they were friends and she went missing after he left the campsite.
He becomes involved in the enquiry but has ongoing cases in Birmingham which need his attention as well. but someone is determined to keep the past in the past.

I chose this book because it was set in Norfolk where I live. So I was a little bit confused when it jumped to Birmingham. At first I found the memory sections in italics a bit annoying, but as the book went on, they were more and more important to the story and felt more realistic. I only realised towards the end that this is part of a 7/8 book series, which shows how well it works as a standalone book. A fresh approach to the often jaded genre of the crime novel.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, Joffe Books and by #NetGalley. Opinions expressed are completely my own.


Fast paced, thriller, suspenseful, entertaining and enjoyable. Hard to put down.

A quick and gripping read, well written qwith good characters and a suspenseful and unpredictable storyline. Really enjoyable.

The 9th book in this series. Which I enjoy. This book was no different I went through the chapters so quickly
Can't wait for the next one in a series I enjoy

I would like to thank Netgalley and Joffe Books for an advance copy of Midnight Lies, the ninth novel to feature DCI Tom Mariner of the West Midlands Police.

A man dies in a car crash and further inspection finds a dead body in the boot. Tom and the team aren’t sure what to make of it but he doesn’t have time to look into it as he has to go to Norfolk to assist with a cold case. Robina Scanlon disappeared 40 years ago and her remains have recently been found. She was 16 year old Tom’s holiday romance and she was murdered.

I thoroughly enjoyed Midnight Lies, which is another action packed instalment in a very readable series. It is told from various points of view on the investigation side, so the reader gets a broad view on events and is able to guess alongside the professionals. No, I didn’t get any of it right, but it was fun trying.

The novel is nonstop on developments with not just these two cases but a couple of other subplots as well and a cliffhanger to finish it off. To make things more interesting the Robina investigation is intercut with Tom’s memories of the time and his first girlfriend (teenage fumblings are not my fondest memories but he seems nostalgic). Nostalgia aside, there are few dull moments and plenty to keep the reader occupied and even the constant switching between plot lines isn’t distracting as there’s so many curiosity inducing developments. It’s an easy way to while away a few hours.

Tom Mariner may be wallowing in the past, but it isn’t deflecting his thinking and he manages to solve everything on his plate. I don’t feel that the reader gets a good sense of who he is in this novel, but with so many cases on the go it’s not really important.

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

Gripping Twisty Mystery. Book Nine.
DCI Ginny Reid in Norfolk on a historic case a teenage woman Robina Scanlon remains are unearthed, this is a big breakthrough. A incident on a bus for Tom Martina, that follows another incident of a very gruesome find in a car, it's all work and no play for these characters.
I just love a good mystery this author never lets me down, its a slap bang wallop read keeps you on the edge of your seat, I loved it, with a touch and go end that keeps you hanging on for the next instalment.

Effective Narrative…
The ninth in the Detective Mariner Mystery series finds the detective struggling with a blast from the past. And a blast it is. A human skeleton has been unearthed on a local campsite and to his horror the detective realises that he knew the murder victim. Intimately. An effective narrative from flashback events coincide with the present day investigation in this immersive instalment and fitting addition to the series.

Thank you NetGalley and Joffe Books for the eARC.
The 2 cases in this Detective Tom Mariner book are proving very difficult to solve. The 1st one is the deadly car accident with 2 men killed, the 2nd a cold case from Tom's youth when, 40 years later, the bones of his 1st girlfriend have been found. To add to his woes, he's under investigation for the severe wounding of a youth he chased.
This is a good addition to the series with a shocking conclusion and I'm looking forward to the next outing, eager to know how things proceed.