In this brand new thriller from author Lynda Renham, we meet Detective Sergeant Beth Harper who works in the quiet village of Stonesend in Oxfordshire. Nothing much normally happens in the quaint village where everyone knows everyone else and often people leave their homes unlocked. That is until local woman Kate is attacked and left for dead in her own home.

Beth is quickly on the case with newcomer to the village, Detective Inspector Tom Miller, who has just transferred from London stating he needed a quieter place.

Victim Kate is loved by all according to the locals. No one saw anything or anyone suspicious or new to the village that day, leaving the detectives to believe that one of the villagers is the attacker, but who would want to hurt Kate and why? It is up to the two detectives to work the case and to try and keep their personal feels about one another away from their jobs.

The Lies She Told is a compelling thriller that is told from various points of view and different time periods. Our main characters DS Beth Harper and DI Tom Miller don’t exactly see eye to eye. Kate dislikes Tom even with the issues surrounding the death of his wife. Tom knows Beth doesn’t like him and you get the feeling at times he enjoys making her have to work with him.

The pair though are a good team and are damn good at their jobs. Beth wears her heart on her sleeve and does get emotionally involved in the case but then she did know the victim. She also isn’t afraid to say what she thinks and add reason to her thoughts when she is convinced someone is charged for a crime they didn’t commit.

Alongside the main case, we also meet mother and daughter Mae and Blanche Lethbridge who are friends with Kate. The two stories ran side by side and you get the hint from the beginning that they are connected in some way, but how?

In all honesty, I had worked out pretty early on some of the details that came to light later in the book. This didn’t subtract from my enjoyment as I liked watching the pieces come together. This is a book that I flew through, reading it in just one day. With its likeable characters, suspenseful plot, and realistic crimes I was sucked into the story and was gripped from beginning to end.