There's plenty of twists, unexpected turn, and dark humour in this story. A mix of social satire (it shreds the world of publishing), thriller, humorous fiction.
Laughed and read it till late.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Duncan Torrens was an author of crime fiction, not a best selling author, but as his publishers described him, a mid list author who reliably wrote a new book each year. He was a forgotten author until a couple of publishers came looking for the rights to republish his work as ebooks and possibly audiobooks. But Duncan Torrens has been dead for over twenty years, his publishers taken over by a conglomerate and there is no trail to follow.
Then a young fan of the Golden Age detectives buys the manuscript of Duncan Torrens last unpublished book and writes about it in his website.
He is hired to find out about Duncan Torrens and this, naturally leads to murder.
A really good read which has everything you expect from a crime novel. My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc.

A clever tale about the hunt for rights to the backlist of an author who didn't sell a lot of books during his life. It's told by five highly unreliable self serving narrators covering all angles. You, like me, might enjoy learning a bit about the publishing industry. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

Mike Ripley’s highly entertaining Buried Above Ground, (Severn House, 25 September 2025), also delights with its play on the classic mystery novel and the presence of five unreliable narrators!

Like Anthony Horowitz’s novels about book editor Susan Ryeland mysteries, Ripley’s Buried Above Ground is both a clever mystery and an amusing send-up of the publishing industry. Five far from reliable points of view tell the story, as the rights to a mystery author’s backlist turn out to be unexpectedly deadly:

The Librarian
It’s been two decades since mystery writer Duncan Torrens was last published. I should know, I was his editor. So why a blogger would turn up asking questions about the rights to his books is beyond me . . .

The Reader
That librarian Roly is a bit odd. You’d think he’d be happy with my blog’s research into a largely forgotten author, but he’s . . . resistant. If I can get into Duncan’s home – and his mysterious garden shed – I know I’ll find what I’m looking for . . .

The Publisher
Torrens’ books are crying out for a revival. I just need that blogger, Jacon, to work out who holds the rights to his backlist. Then I can acquire them before Duncan’s old publishing house realises they’ve missed a trick!

The Editor
I never worked directly with Duncan before he died, but if someone is sniffing round, there must be money involved. I just need to find out what’s happened to the rights before they do . . .

The Writer
After twenty years, will the sudden interest in this author’s forgotten mysteries reveal a dark – and deadly – twist?

It would be a crime to reveal more plot details about this surprising mystery, but let it be said that this is a very engaging and thoroughly captivating murder mystery. There are plenty of in-jokes and mystery references, all told in Ripley’s usual free flowing and engaging style, and the book delights from beginning to end. Highly recommended.

A big thank you to Severn House and NetGalley for access to such an entertaining read!

This was a solid 4.5 stars for me. Mystery novels are my absolute favorite, and I’ve been enjoying a suite of cozy mysteries lately. In this novel, we have the unreliable narrator trope in action with not one, but five unreliable accounts! There was a lot of talking, and a lot of inner thoughts which I think added to the story. It isn’t something that could be made into a TV show (unlike one of the plot points in the book) but it does make for an excellent read. You really get a feel for the characters.

And the characters! One of the first things I took a mental note of was “wow, the author does a great job in making me hate this character so quickly.” And it wasn’t even one of our POV characters. It was a side character through the lens of our first POV, The Librarian. In other words, I was quickly sympathetic to the Librarian but detested the intern. That character, and all others introduced, felt like real people. Not just that, but real, somewhat ordinary people that you’d absolutely encounter in your life.

One of my favorite parts throughout was how, well, unreliable each POV character was. And not in a way that was trying to misdirect from the central storyline of the book, but in how each character recollected the same events. Each was slightly different because each character was different and experienced the world differently. I really appreciated that, and it helped the story feel more real to me. I also enjoyed how each POV flirted with the style of mystery that our central author (Duncan Torrens ) wrote.

This was a fun twist on a murder mystery, layering in classic tropes, and nudging in some new ones as a nod to the modern mystery. I’ll be checking out other books this author has written!

Buried Above Ground is a satirical homage to the golden age of the whodunnit, with meta publishing overtones.

Told through 5 narrators, we find out about an elusive crime writer who wrote under a pseudonym, with an output of 1 book a year, to a small publishing house.

After this is bought out by a major house, the final manuscript of the now dead author, is thrown away and found years later and bought by a fan of the genre.

There’s a lot of intrigue around the author, as all 5 narrators look into his past and try and discover what has happened.

Remarkably well plotted, with more references to the genre than you can shake a stick at, I’d recommend this for all fans of the genre!

This book was alright, definitely kind of middle of the road. It's a mystery but with no real suspense to it, however it's told in a way that's interesting enough to keep you reading because you want to know what the truth is and I can honestly say that I didn't see the outcome coming. There were some questions that did remain unanswered though, which was disappointing, but overall, it wasn't a bad read. Just nothing groundbreaking.

Thank you netgalley for the arc.

Duncan Torrence had been dead for twenty years by the time a publishing intern and a podcaster started asking Roly Wilkes questions about him. Duncan wasn’t a huge seller before his death, more of a mid-lister and Roly had edited his latest books. Roly currently works as a librarian.

Roly may be the only person who knew Duncan. The author was very private. Duncan wouldn’t allow an author photo on his book jackets. He lived in a small village where most of the community didn’t realize that he was an author.

Soon after the intern visits Roly, he is found murdered. The intern had decided to go to the small village and do a little research. He found Duncan’s grave and the small house where he’d lived. The home had been left to be used for homing immigrants. The only thing of interest was a garden shed at the back of the house. Through the window, he was able to take a picture of the ancient typewriter Torrence had used. The intern had ridden a bike and was hit by a car as he was leaving the village. His body was hidden and his bike tossed in the river.

The podcaster and the intern were approached to investigate Duncan and report back to another publisher who would like to re-publish some of his books if they can get the rights to them. The podcaster had also found Duncan’s last manuscript that hadn’t yet been published in a recycle bin.

After the intern’s death, the police came round to see Roly who fears he may become a suspect.

During the investigation we learn more about Roly’s connection to Duncan and another body is found but this time one from the past.

The story is told by several characters. There are enough questions that kept me guessing until the end. I would read more from this author.

If you love a good traditional mystery, you should read this one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Severn House for this advance reader copy for my honest review.

This book is scheduled to be released on September 2nd.

This book is about greed. A large publishing conglomerate, Pabulator, acquires the small company of Boothy and Briggs because B&B owns a large number of out-of-print books. However, there is money to be made by rehashing the covers of those books and republishing them as e-books. Now, there is one small problem: no one seems to know who holds the rights to the books of Duncan Torrens, whose books, although not the very best, are crime novels that have a reasonably large fan base.
Roly Wilkes, the erstwhile editor of Torrens’ books, was fired twenty years ago when the overtake happened, and is now earning a meagre salary working in a small library in a dreary little town. One day, Jake Philbin, an intern with Pabulator, knocks on Wilkes’ door to try to find out if Wilkes would know more about Torrens. Yes, Wilkes knows a lot about Torrens, but he’s not planning to share all that knowledge with Philbin and sends him on his way. The second person who comes inquiring is Jacon, a young man who lives with his mother and is very proud of his blog about ‘The Golden Age’ of crime novels. Again, Wilkes denies knowing anything about rights and sends him on his way. But, how did Philbin and Jacon know certain things about Torrens that were not widely known?
And this is only the start. Besides these three people, several others play a role in this story, and without realizing it, they are all connected to this mystery.
I just loved it! Somewhat 35 years ago, I landed, more or less by coincidence, a job with a publishing company, and so much of what Roly and the others tell about how things actually work in publishing, I could relate to. The good and the bad… I could write a book about it, but I won't because Mike Ripley did an outstanding job here, with a nice plot, some good and some bad characters (who are, by the way, all very unreliable).

There is a lot of tell and hardly any show, but for me, this made the story stronger. I enjoyed it from the first page to the last one.

Thanks to Severn House and Netgalley for this review copy.

A wonderfully fun, yet poignant story about murder and the love of books.

"Buried Above Ground" is both a pastiche and an homage to those Golden Age detective novels enjoyed by so many. It's about a missing author and a mysterious manuscript, all told by five very different, very unreliable narrators. It starts when librarian Roland is approached by a blogger who has purchased a manuscript, and wants to interview the author, unheard of for twenty years. As his investigations continue, said blogger meets various people who worked for the book's publisher, but have different views of what happened.

The story moves along nicely, the narrative ripe with dry wit and cynical insights into the publishing world. You can rely on Mike Ripley to deliver funny/not funny reflections of life. Fans of true Golden Age detective novels will no doubt work out the "whodunnit" early on, but that's not the point - you're here for the ride as much as the destination. Just enjoy it.

The book, like the Atticus Punt books by Anthony Horowitz, digs deep into the mire and dirt that is the book publishing industry - in particular, the current trend of turning older, less profitable books into e-books which can be sold at a low price, yet still generate income. It's the story of a small, independent publishing house which is taken over by a large multinational publisher, and whose first act is to shed staff and push profits. With the inevitable results.

Heartily recommended.

The author has written several books in the "Albert Campion" mysteries. He is also an accomplished reviewer of books. This book is basically one about writing crime novels. There are many references to well known writers and their books.
Boothby and Briggs publishing company has been taken over by a Swedish conglomerate. One of their authors Duncan Torrens was a favourite of Library users. Most of his books are no longer in print, but for some reason someone wants to gain the rights to them - who and why?
Torrens is the name the author wrote under. Who is he really? Is he still alive? and if so where does he live? The author wrote about Detective inspector Seeley and his sergeant. Torrens had at least two editors. One of these is still around, but not working in publishing.
Jacon Archer owns a website called "Gadabout" dedicated to the Golden Age authors and their works. He has been paid to discover who owns the rights to Torrens books. He decides to start in the village where the author lived. When Jacon is discovered dead and in suspicious circumstances, that the police get involved.
An interesting idea for a crime fiction book. Definitely recommended.

"An original spin on the crime novel in which the race to gain the rights to an author's backlist proves to be more head-scratching - and deadly! - than the plots in his books.

The Librarian
It's been two decades since mystery writer Duncan Torrens was last published. I should know, I was his editor. So why a blogger would turn up asking questions about the rights to his books is beyond me...

The Reader
That librarian Roly is a bit odd. You'd think he'd be happy with my blog's research into a largely forgotten author, but he's...resistant. If I can get into Duncan's home - and his mysterious garden shed - I know I'll find what I'm looking for...

The Publisher
Torrens' books are crying out for a revival. I just need that blogger, Jacon, to work out who holds the rights to his backlist. Then I can acquire them before Duncan's old publishing house realises they've missed a trick!

The Editor
I never worked directly with Duncan before he died, but if someone is sniffing round, there must be money involved. I just need to find out what's happened to the rights before they do...

The Writer
After twenty years, will the sudden interest in this author's forgotten mysteries reveal a dark - and deadly - twist?

Told from the point of view of five unreliable narrators, none of whom can be trusted - The Librarian, The Reader, The Publisher, The Editor and The Writer - this amusing and darkly intriguing novel is a refreshingly fun, subversive take on the crime fiction genre."

Technically there are two editors...

Like Anthony Horowitz's "Magpie Murders," "Buried Above Ground" is both a crime novel and a send-up of the publishing business. The genteel days of publishing at the London firm of Boothby and Briggs came to an abrupt end 20 years ago, when the company was absorbed by a giant conglomerate called Pabulator International. One of the casualties of the deal was Roly Wilkes, who lost his job as an editor and wound up working at a small library.

One day, a young man named Jake Philbin tracks down Roly in order to ask him about one of the authors he used to edit: Duncan Torrens, whose rather unremarkable run of crime novels has been out of print for years. Jake owns a company that buys the rights to forgotten old mysteries in order to publish them as ebooks, and his attempts to find who owns the rights to the late Duncan Torrens' intellectual property have finally led him to Roly. Unfortunately, Roly has no idea—Torrens died without leaving any heirs, and he left his home to charity—but Jake's search ultimately winds up bringing some old secrets to light... secrets that someone would kill to keep hidden.

"Buried Above Ground" features a revolving cast of narrators, some of whom are more reliable than others. Roly is first, followed by a blogger obsessed with "Golden Age" mysteries, a former colleague of Roly's at Boothby and Briggs, etc. The novel is great fun, even though I felt it lost a bit of steam in the final segment. Ripley is a witty writer whose over 30 years of experience as a published author serve him well in this clever and satirical novel.

Five unreliable narrators (Roland / Roly Wilkes, Jacon Archer, Stephen Crow, Robina Robinson, and Duncan Torrens) take the reader into the heart of modern-day publishing, where only the bottom-line matters and making a buck off an author, dead or alive, however they can, has nothing to do with ethical considerations or authorial proprietorship.

The tale progress as each of these seemingly unconnected narrators adds a little bit more to the overall plot-line, which is in no way broken or disjointed for doing so - these narratives compliment each other. However, as both we and our narrators near ever closer to the truth, things turn a little deadly, as long buried secrets (and the body count) are starting to rise.

A skillfully plotted mystery that at times leads the reader astray, yet the clues are there to be pieced together, revealing an surprising twist.

This book has a very unusual premise and style. There are five alternating, equally unreliable narrators. Each is interested in who holds the rights to a deceased and largely forgotten author’s crime series. The interested parties include the Librarian, the Reader/blogger, the Publisher, the Editor and, finally, the Writer.
As in real life, the competing narratives and goals of each person aren’t obvious at first glance but are made clear in a series of conversations, culminating in a very long confession at the end.
This book is for those interested in the background of writing and publication as the real life writer, Mike Ripley, has an extensive background in crime fiction critique for several English newspapers. While not of particular interest to me, the book’s execution was well done.

Kept me up all night! Such a great read. I loved the changing of the point of views which was done in. A really unique way.

Buried Above Ground by Mike Ripley

This story is so heavy on exposition that it feels like all exposition. All tell, no show. On one hand, I guess we need to be told so much because things get so intertwined, with so many of the characters wrapped up in other characters (there really aren't that many but it seems like there are too many), and over such a long timeline, that getting told can seem like a good thing. But being told so much keeps us at a distance.

The work of mystery writer Duncan Torrens means something to someone, to several someones, and someone else isn't liking it that someone is digging around and asking questions. Maybe if the story was told...actually SHOWN differently, it would have caught me up in it more. It can be clever with its tangle of twists and turns but by the time we get to the confessions, I've "heard" too much.

This story does make me want to be very wary of digging into books, their authors, whatever is behind the publishing of books, and those who might think they deserve more (money) when it comes to books. Greed can be at the bottom of a lot of things and just might be at the bottom of a grave, above or below ground. Things get messy when Torrens book(s) almost give away the plot of what is really happening in the story. You'll need to pay attention but there will be an appendix that will fill you in on some of what you missed. Maybe it will help if you are a really sharp mystery reader, I was feeling pretty dull reading this one. I read this story with Jayme so be sure to check out her thoughts on the book.

Thank you to Severn House and NetGalley for this ARC.

I WISH I had found this book as entertaining as the premise- FIVE unreliable narrators, cooperating (or is that competing) to figure out WHO holds the rights to deceased writer Duncan Torrens crime series.

The Librarian, Rory who was once Torrens editor before his publishing house was acquired by another and his position made redundant.

The Reader/blogger, Jacon with a “c” who starts his research into whom holds the rights, by seeking out the librarian and showing him Torrens last, unpublished manuscript.

The Publisher who hires Jacon to do the research into the “rights” because Torrens books were never published in paperback, ebooks or Audiobooks so they could reach an entire new market of readers if they could obtain the rights.

The Editor who figures money must be involved wants to find out what’s happened to the rights before anyone else does.

The Writer who may be hiding a secret or two.

Who will solve the mystery?
Who will end up dead?

Advertised as a fresh take on crime fiction-this sounded like it would be so much fun-but unfortunately the execution consisted of a lot of lengthy conversations and ALL TELL-NO SHOW with one of those LONG CONFESSIONS at the end.

I didn’t find this style at all engaging, but I did enjoy the inside peek into the World of Publishing and the inner works of Libraries.

Mike Ripley is a “new to me” author but he is a respected critic of crime fiction writing for The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The Birmingham Post and The Times who has called him England’s funniest Crime Writer, with several books under his belt.

So, perhaps you will disagree with me!

Expected Publication Date: September 2, 2025

Thank You to Severn House for the gifted ARC provided through NetGalley. As always-these are my candid thoughts!

Keenly Observed..
The Writer, the Librarian, the Publisher, the Editor and the Reader. Five wholly unreliable narrators. Who to believe, if indeed any, as the race to gain the rights to an authors backlist turns very deadly indeed. Witty and wry contemporary satire with more than a keenly observed nod to the industry, a deftly drawn cast and a frothy plot riddled with sharp observations. A delight.

My thanks to Severn House Publishers and NetGalley for a copy of “ Buried Above Ground” for an honest review.

I was drawn to read this from the intriguing book description, and the fact it wasn’t a conventional storyline.I enjoyed the beginning, also the references to other crime books and writers.Unfortunately as I got further into the book I lost interest
With the storyline and the different characters, and ended up skimming through.
Sadly just not for me .