Everyone Lies
Fennimore & Simms book 1
DCI Kate Simms is on the fast track to nowhere. Five years ago, she broke all the rules to help Professor Nick Fennimore after his wife and daughter disappeared, and she’s been clawing her way back from a demotion ever since. Nick Fennimore, one-time scientific advisor to the National Crime Faculty, is the best there is, but he’s now hiding in Scotland, working as a forensics lecturer.
In Manchester, drug addicts are turning up dead and Simms’s boss is only too pleased to hand the problem over to her. Then a celebrity dies and the media sniffs a story. The evidence doesn’t add up; Simms’s superiors seem to be obstructing her investigation; everyone lies – and the one person she can’t afford to be around is the one man who can help: Fennimore.
‘Thriller writing at its best.’ Ann Cleeves
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Quotes and reviews for Everyone Lies
Booklist: ‘The backstory between Fennimore and Simms is tantalizingly glossed over, adding tension to the story, as readers attempt to work out the tension between the characters. This gritty British thriller will appeal to fans of Ken Bruen and Val McDermid.’
Kirkus: ‘The pseudonymous pair who write as Garrett skillfully weave just enough of the crime-solving partners’ past and hints about a more hopeful future to add even more suspense to the fast-paced plot.’
Read the full review in Kirkus Reviews
*Starred review* in Publishers Weekly: ‘Under the Garrett pseudonym, crime writer Margaret Murphy (Now You See Me) and forensic scientist Dave Barclay take an unflinching look at two people rebuilding their lives, and at the underworld of Manchester, England, in this outstanding collaborative debut, which balances the intricacies of forensics with the cerebral instincts of crime investigation… The brisk plot never strays with its complex exploration of prostitutes and crime lords and its affecting look at Kate and Nick’s complicated relationship.’
Read the full review in Publishers Weekly
‘I cannot praise this series enough. A. D. Garrett is a genius at making the forensics something a lay person can completely understand and relish.’ NorthernCrime
Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine: ‘[A]n excellent police procedural/forensics investigative novel, which will appeal to fans of British police procedurals and fans of the likes of Simon Beckett, Kathy Reichs and Jeffery Deaver… to make a series of this and I hope that is the case. I will be in line for the next.’ A-
Review from Bookloons: ‘[A]n outstanding new Anglophile mystery (a series too, I hope!)… Everyone Lies is totally gripping, not to be missed.’ Full review at Bookloons
Review, in full: ‘[I]f a straight shot of crime fiction is what you’re after, this first novel by a British team is a real find, a beautifully blended cocktail of police procedural, psychological suspense, and forensic crime-solving. A complicated, involved and deeply involving pair of investigators will put you in mind of the great Kathy Reichs books, but with more levels, maybe. The bad guys and the victims are dark and disturbing—the more so the nearer we get to them—though not in the least depressing; the peripheral characters more or less on our side will presumably be back in future books and will be welcome again then.’
George Ernsberger, syndicated in: Sullivan County Democrat; Ellenville Shawangunk Journal;Democrat online
Review, CrimeSquad: ‘…this reviewer isn’t lying when I say this book should be on everyone’s reading list for the summer.’ Read the full five star review at CrimeSquad
‘An exciting police procedural that had me gripped.’ Shaz’s Book Blog
‘Fans of Jeffrey Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme series will feel at home with Everyone Lies.’ Crime Review
‘If you’re a fan of forensic science and investigative detail do read this book – you’re in for a treat.’ RomanCrimeBlogger just couldn’t put it down. The Crime Warp
‘Everyone Lies is a tense and engrossing mixture of social realism and fast-paced thriller…’ Paul D. Brazill’s review at Mean Streets
Writing duos are a difficult thing to get right but when they work well they can give a novel added depth. I’d love to hear how Murphy and Barclay wrote the book because the narrative has a consistent feel to it, even when steeped in technical forensic detail. The minutiae of forensic analysis is dealt with in an interesting way and adds depth to an solid murder plot.
Read Sarah Ward’s full review at Crimepieces
…it is the combination of the delightfully drawn characters, the keen sense of place and a plotline that is at once more than credible, yet deeply disturbing, that really marks Everyone Lies as a highly polished, thoroughly recommended novel that will leave readers yearning for more of the same.
ChrisHigh.com
It’s always a tricky proposition I imagine to undertake a crime, or indeed any kind of fiction novel with a dual writing partnership. In other books I have read with two authors there is usually a very noticeable distinction between their two styles causing me to favour one over the other, or the book falls down as one has obviously taken control over a certain facet of the story. Everyone Lies neatly bucked the trend for me and I was incredibly impressed by this debut collaboration between Margaret Murphy and Professor Dave Barclay.
Full review at Raven Crime Reads
Is this author’s name new to you? Then take note – because you’ll be hearing plenty more about AD Garrett, the pseudonym for the writing collaboration of prize-winning thriller author Margaret Murphy and Professor Dave Barclay, a world-renowned forensics expert and advisor to both police forces and the media. And it looks like a marriage made in crime fiction heaven, because this pair have produced a debut novel that might well take your breath away.
Read the full 5* review at CrimeFictionLover.com
It’s always great when the female or male lead has history with someone who might be able to help work out the identity of the killer – Garrett’s dialogue is taut and concise and real, and the plot is helped along by the chemistry between Simms and Fennimore. Great stuff.
www.booksmonthly.co.uk/adcrim.html
If this book isn’t meant as the first of a series, both publisher and author should consider it seriously. When I finished it I wanted more.
It’s twisty and very satisfying once you put the odd gripe to the side. The office politics of the police force are brought superbly to life as are the streets of Manchester.
This is thriller writing at its best: prose that’s startling in its pace and clarity, characters who come to life immediately and the bonus of knowing that all the forensic details are entirely accurate.
Ann Cleeves
A throat-clutcher from page one. Everyone Lies is a pulse pounding thriller, which weaves expertly between evil on the streets and the dark side of police department politics. A. D. Garrett has done for Manchester what The Wire did for Baltimore. And our central characters, Simms and Fennimore, are complex, compelling and just plain marvellous.
Jeffery Deaver
Awesome…What A. D. Garrett doesn’t understand about forensic science and its applications isn’t worth knowing. Ditto characterisation, plot and pace. A sterling debut.
Mo Hayder
