This story was engaging and had a good turn at the end. The charcters were likeable and interesting. Excited to read more from this author.

I enjoyed the plot in this one and it was great catching up with the characters!

The pace in this one was great and I really enjoyed the story, it is the fifth in the series but I would say that this one can easily be read as a stand alone. I enjoyed the ending and the twist - I was trying to guess how the book would finish and it wasn't like that!

Four stars from me, a great addition to the series!

Another cracker in the series about DI Tom Mariner from Chris Collett

I stayed up until 6am reading this book I could not stop reading it!!

Nina has died a terrible death

Lucy is a newlywed with an idiot husband who I hated and she is being stalked and hounded

Are they linked??

I didn’t guess the motive nor the murderer

I would highly recommend this easy read fantastic page turner book

This is a decent enough holiday read, but it never quite made it a suspenseful as a good thriller should be., Worth a read.

Picked this book as i’d Really enjoyed baby lies and this didn’t disappoint. Loved how the characters continued to grow throughout.

Married Lies ( book 5 D.I.Mariner series ) by Chris Collett published by Joffe Books and Out Now

So, another book in a series that I was coming to relatively late at book 5,this time the author in the narrative alluded to characters past events and important things you needed to know but didnt fully make you aware of them until later in the book, not a problem but was good when I did piece together the past of the people I was now reading about, saying that it ‘stood alone’ well enough
A big BIG plus was the books setting in good old Brum and surrounding areas and was good to immediately have a minds eye on area descriptions of the City ( lived there 7 years and met Matt there etc) and some of it was set in Bourneville and Harborne (2 areas lived in) so a plus point bias there 😃
One thing I was not so keen on was the very ‘P.C’ ness of the book, every possible minority combination was included inc my own 😃, it didn’t ruin the book at all but was there enough for me to mention it
The book is set in the infant stages of social media, internet, email etc and some of the references to this ‘era’ although not long ago now seem eons ago
The story...this was good, a ‘whodunit’ set on the backdrop of a seemingly no enemies middle aged woman killing herself by drinking acid, not pleasant!but set off a great investigation with big characters, I enjoyed the ‘chatty’ narrative, easy to follow and not bogged down in irrelevant police procedure, that that was included was relevant!
I guessed the murderer about 3/4 of the way through but not why they had done it........
The main character Lucy who is being terrorised at times got on my nerves but hey we all get on peoples nerves at times!
All in all a good read and one (again) that was an exciting and interesting read and with a surprise ending and a shocking discovery for the DI who the books revolve around... I liked him and his policing style and would deffo read more about( old books in the series and new )
A book to settle with and happily read and get involved in
8/10 4 stars

I'm extremely upset! How is this my first Tom Mariner book when it's #5 in the series? I've really been missing out, (desperate FOMO feelings). Having read book 5 and loved it, I will now have to invest in books 1 - 4! An incredibly complex tale, which manages, despite all the intricate details and red herrings, never to be confusing. Millie Khatoon was a great character and I look forward to reading about how her career will progress under Mariner's mentoring. All of which must demonstrate how well drawn the characters are; thoroughly credible and worth investing in. A complex tale of murder and mayhem, revenge and retribution that is an absorbing and involving read.

Excellent story line which was gripping from start to finish. Great characters. I would highly recommend this book.

I can’t help but give this book five stars, as I am entirely invested in the Tom Mariner series, so reading each installment is like visiting old friends. This one does not disappoint, and each character continues to grow and to become more endearing. The story was a good one that should keep even new readers engaged, and I have to say that I was relieved to find that Anna will be out of the picture for good since I never much liked her and never thought she was good for Tom. (I realize that sounds callous, but, hey, it’s a work of fiction!) I can’t say I was crazy about how the main mystery resolved itself, but it was a surprise, albeit not a very satisfying one.

This is the fifth book in the series featuring DI Tom Mariner and his team. It can easily be read though as a standalone. Tom and his team are investigating the murder of the wife of a former police officer, which was originally thought to have been suicide and the case of Lucy Jarrettt, who is terrified as she believes she has a stalker. This is a really complex story, with all sorts of twists and turns as everything starts to fit together. We get to know the character of Tom more in this book. His life is in turmoil as he split from Anna, but meets up again with her in this book with disastrous consequence. Chris Collett puts us through a rollercoaster of emotions with a real surprise at the end. This series just gets better with each book. A thoroughly recommended read.
Thanks to NetGalley and Joffe books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book

I enjoyed this book, while a bit slow in places the story was well written and nicely paced. The characters were likeable and I didn't guess whodunit! I found the characters weren't as rounded as I would like, but this is likely as it not the first in the series and I haven't read any of the others. I would definitely read another in the series,

This is the 5th book in the Birmingham Detective series DI Mariner by author Chris Collett.
I have read many in this series so I am already a fan and accustomed to the main characters with their quirks and ways. This is an excellent addition to the series and just enforces my positive opinion to this series and is certainly one I wish to continue reading.
In this plot Lucy Jarrett who is a young married woman whose husband is often away from home playing gigs. So when she starts to get unwanted attention from been followed and silent phone calls, she begins to get unnerved and seeks help from the police. Her husband is very sceptical about Lucy's concerns but DI Tom Mariner appears to take her claims more serious and decides to investigate.
If you have not yet read any of this series yet I would highly recommend giving them a read. Full of interesting believable characters and page turning plots. Good quick reads that entertain.
I would like to thank both Net Galley and Joffe for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great series of books featuring Detective Tom Mariner. He is a bit tenacious in his quest to find the murderer in his latest case. Set in Birmingham, Mariner is investigating the case of a murdered woman, the wife of a former police officer and the case of Lucy, who appears to have a stalker. Are the cases connected? Find out by reading this latest book by Chris Collett. A cracking read. Thanks to Net Galley for my copy. I reviewed on Goodreads, Amazon and Facebook.

This is the first book I’ve read in this series. In fact, it was so well written, it stood alone without having to read the previous books as so often is the case when the writer assumes you know the characters. Great read, thrilling, page-turning and suspenseful. It certainly wants to make me read the others.

A pity that I have only just caught up with DI Tom Mariner in number 5 of this series. Look forward to hopefully catching up with numbers 1 - 4. A good storyline which keeps you involved in the plot till the very end.

I've followed DI Tom Mariner from the first. Even after he and Anna broke up there was always the hope that they'd get back together. They were made for each other. But it wasn't to be. I like the continuity of the books. The murder in this one was more gruesome than usual. Chris Collett's got an evil imagination.

Loved it. Looking forward to the next and seeing where Mariner goes now.

This is the fifth in the DI Tom Mariner series set in Birmingham. In this intricately plotted tale, there are two cases. A woman, Nina Silvero, is found dead in her kitchen, having drunk sulphuric acid. There seems to be no motive or evidence for murder. Lucy is married to Will, a musician who spends a lot of time away from home, leaving her isolated and alone. She is terrified, receiving menacing phone calls and being stalked, but her husband refuses to take her seriously. Are there connections between the two cases? Oddball DI Tom Mariner has a fraught personal life, but is a dedicated police officer, he and his team investigate in this highly tense and suspenseful story with numerous twists. Many thanks to Joffe books for an ARC.

Married Lies. Author CHRIS COLLETT
 
I liked this book! It was 5 stars worthy.

I did not read the first four CID Tom Mariner's books But that really didn't matter. In this book there were two diffent crimes going on. One was the murder of an older woman, Nina Silvero, that was violent. Very violent.

In another part of town a newly married woman, Lucy Jarrett, was being harnessed. On the phone, by text, and mail to the point of getting her very afaird. She thought she was being followed and as soon as a call came through she unplugged her phone. Her husband , Will, was in a band, and spent some of his nights on the road. When he was not a home, she got her phone calls.

CID Tom Mariner and his associate DC Millie Khatoon each one worked on their own crime. Mariner was lead on the Nina Silvero's murder and Millie got her first lead case on Lucy Jarrett 's case. They both had no idea who was the persons of interest.

They often used each other as sounding boards. Lucy's husband,Will, thought she was making too much about her phone calls, so she called off the police case, which made Millie want to help her anyway. Then things got much worse for Lucy, and made Millie step up her investigation.

Mariner's murder case was going no where, without any leads. Until Nina step daughter said was on the phone with Nina when she said someone was at the door. When her body was found there was one wine glass and a bottle of wine on the kitchen counter along with a drain cleaner.

They both had their lives checked for any possible people that would do that to women that had no troubled pasts. Noone stood out.

The back story of both victims were interesting. I kept guessing along with the police. So the ending was a big surprise.

Downloaded through Netgalley to read for an honest review!

‘Married Lies’ is the fifth book in the series featuring Detective Tom Mariner. I have had the pleasure of reading and reviewing a couple of them and I loved them just as much as I love this one but more about that in a bit.
Detective Tom Mariner is a funny old fish. He is a career policeman and works extremely hard. He leads from the front and he doesn’t hesitate to take on more than his share of the workload. He works well as part of a team but equally he works well on his own. I found it interesting how loyal the team are to each other and they have each others’ backs. Mariner has something of a ‘policeman’s nose’ and if something doesn’t seem right, then that means that it isn’t. Mariner is a bit like a dog with a bone in that he won’t settle until he has satisfied his own curiosity or completely exhausted a particular line of inquiry. Mariner’s personal life is a bit messy to say the least. ‘Married Lies’ sees Mariner on his own as his relationship with Anna has broken up. Mariner has a thing for casual sex and for somebody who is usually suspicious of everybody and everything , he is incredibly stupid for engaging in one night stands with women, who he doesn’t know from adam. The beginning of the book sees him have a one night stand with a woman, who is a bit of a bunny boiler to say the least and she won’t take the hint. He wants nothing to do with her but she insists on texting him, ringing him, turning up at his work and making him packed lunches. She seems to think that they are in a relationship where Mariner just used her to get his leg over. This woman set off some major alarm bells for me. Mariner uses the main cases featured in this book to distract him from his personal problems. Lucy Jarrett is terrified out of her skin. She is married but her husband works away a lot. Somebody has been bombarding her with junk mail, silent phone calls and they have been following her. Mariner takes her concerns seriously due to the death of a woman in similar circumstances to Lucy. However, another case comes in which also distracts Mariner. The wife of a former police officer dies after drinking sulphuric acid, which she was duped into drinking. Will Mariner’s one night stand turn dangerous? Will Mariner manage to find who is terrorising Lucy? Will Mariner find out who duped the ex-policeman’s wife into drinking sulphuric acid? Are the two cases connected? If so how and why? Well for the answers to those questions and more you are just going to have to read the book for yourselves to find out as I am not going to tell you.
To say that the Detective Tom Mariner series is addictive reading has to be the understatement of the year. I was hooked on this book from the first word on the first page and I wasn’t released from the book’s grip until the moment I closed the back cover so to speak. I was swept along by the story and I felt as though I was an invisible member of the investigating team. There were times when I wanted to leap into the pages of the book to slap Mariner across the chops with a wet fish several dozen times because he literally couldn’t see what was at the end of his nose and especially as regards his bunny boiler one night stand. There were also times when I wanted to bop Lucy’s so called husband on the nose end for how he treated Lucy. The writing style and story were so realistic that I even found myself shouting or arguing with the book. I know it’s a work of fiction but I find that if I enjoy a book then I tend to ‘live’ the story and act as though the characters are stood right in front of me. I know I am weird. Ha ha. Reading ‘Married Lies’ was like being on a slightly scary rollercoaster ride with lots of twists, turns and unexpected moments. There were times when I almost had to read through my fingers because I genuinely feared what fate had in store for Lucy and for Mariner. Every so often I smugly thought that I had figured out who was doing what and why only to find out that I was completely wrong and the real culprit was somebody else entirely. This book certainly kept me guessing.
In conclusion I think that it’s more than fair to say that I totally loved reading ‘Married Lies’. I wholeheartedly recommend this author and their books to anybody and everybody. I can’t wait to read what comes next from Chris Collett. Here’s hoping that we don’t have too long to wait. The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a well deserved 5* out of 5*.

Another satisfying read in the D.I. Tom Mariner series-book #5. Lucy Jarrett thinks she is being stalked and followed while her newly wed husband is out traveling with his band. Tom and his team become involved when things escalate with Lucy all the while they are also trying to solve a seemingly unconnected brutal murder of a widow by poisoning. Is their a connection between the murderer and who is stalking Lucy? Is Lucy imaging things or going crazy and doing them to herself? Is her husband doing this to her? When Lucy becomes very sick also from poisoning things escalate quickly to a satisfying ending.