CHRIS MARR
The Lady of the Manor
ISBN-13: 978-0709084815
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A Hampshire estate in 1903. George Erskine, a young man invalided out of the Boer War, falls desperately in love with Emily Delsey, a debutante. Although he persuades her to marry him he remains insecure, convinced she is being unfaithful or at least hiding some terrible secret. Why is she writing letters to another man behind his back? Why is she so reticent about the past? And why, just as a matter of interest, does she refuse to countenance physical relations between them? One evening he decides to follow her and...
Now George has another mystery to solve. He is on trial for his wife's murder and faces death if found guilty. Can he ever prove his innocence and ensure justice is done?
The Director
ISBN-13: 978-0709087199
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Leonard Fleason has a lot to be thankful for: a job as a film critic on a national newspaper; a young wife, Deborah, whose father is owner of that paper; a wonderful house set in the Essex countryside. Something, however, is missing from Leonard's life. Obsessed from childhood with the film industry, his career has never quite matched his grandiose dreams. His marriage, too, is undergoing problems as Leonard suspects his wife of having an affair. Perhaps, in truth, secretly filming Deborah is going too far in resolving that particular issue. But Leonard wants answers and has found, in fact, the perfect career plan. His dreams, together with the crisis in his personal life, all come to a head as he stages a unique confrontation with his tormentors.
A Little Local Difficulty
ASIN: B01JA9NZVW
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DCI Michael Janaway has borderline Asperger’s syndrome and a unique perspective. Awoken late at night at his home in Cambridge, he is disturbed to find a neighbour has been stabbed to death on his doorstep. An investigation ensues, but immediately Janaway is confronted with whether he should remain as the investigation’s senior officer, living as he does opposite the murder house, or indeed whether he is emotionally stable enough to cope after the recent death of his daughter. One member of his team, an ambitious sergeant, certainly thinks that he should step down, and the case itself, which has more than one shocking twist, is unusually complicated and draining. Will Janaway’s logical mind and eye for detail triumph over troubles that are far too close to home for comfort?
The Two Secrets
ASIN: B01JA8X3QK
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Robert Hillier is shocked when film actress, Tamara Collins, visits his office and tells him that her husband, film director Lewis Lawson, has beaten up Robert’s twenty-year-old son, James. Ever since the suicide of his wife, Jill, Robert has been particularly protective towards James, who is offhand towards him in his manner, and the news that his son has developed an infatuation with the famous actress is deeply worrying. To add to the complications, Tamara claims that her life is under threat and asks Robert himself, for reasons that are unclear, to look into it. Who, if not James, is Tamara’s would-be assassin? What are the two secrets that she talks about and which Robert suspects provide a link with his family? And why, most poignantly of all, did Jill decide to kill herself two years earlier?
Cat and Mouse
ASIN: B01JA8WNNO
Adrian Kendrick, a graduate in his first job, becomes obsessed with a work colleague, Rosalind, drawn to her partly by her striking appearance and partly by her unworldly character. Rosalind is old-fashioned. Rosalind is naïve. Rosalind, unfortunately, is also married, and her husband, James, a nightclub bouncer, has violent tendencies – as evidenced by his numerous fights – and associates who appear to be involved in drug dealing. As Adrian’s friendship with Rosalind develops, he is unable to decide whether she, too, is falling for him and whether she knows about her husband’s extracurricular activities. Acting alone, he follows James one night and confronts his rival. The outcome is unexpected. Soon, in possession of a cache of money, the police are looking for him together with the head of one of Britain’s premier crime firms.
Ring-a-Ring o' Roses
ASIN: B01JA7BNWW
Ten stories ranging from the moving to the macabre, the mundane and the mystical. A romantic novelist with seven children keeps getting interrupted while she is working. A wife returns from the dead to pass judgement on her husband’s new lover. A businessman is surprised one evening when he is paid a visit by the devil. Marr creates a menagerie of offbeat characters and observes the human condition with humour and skill. Mystery and horror aficionados alike will delight in a collection that combines insight, depth, terror and suspense.
After His Death
ASIN: B01II9NXRQ
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Clara Brownacre’s life is shattered when she discovers her husband David, a popular history lecturer, has been shot dead on their doorstep in broad daylight.
Who could have done such a thing? There is one clue – a newspaper article he is holding about a girl who died after swallowing an ecstasy tablet – but the police are unable to connect the two deaths, and Clara, heartbroken from her loss and the chief suspect in the murder, decides to investigate the matter herself.
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It is a difficult, not to say dangerous, undertaking, but despite her grief, she is determined to get to the bottom of it. Her relationship with her friends, her daughter Lily’s well‑being, not least the small detail of her own safety, are all in jeopardy as she unearths far more about her husband than she could possibly have imagined.
Oh, Mandy!
ASIN: B01MSAPPOL
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Camden, North London, 1991. Two idealistic men in their mid twenties are looking for love. Gareth is heartbroken when his girlfriend turns down his marriage proposal and decides, in order to distract him from his maudlin thoughts, to help his hapless housemate, Reece, acquire a partner. Reece has already been meeting women through a lonely hearts advertisement but, unfortunately, has a habit of saying the wrong thing and a history of dating disasters. How difficult can their mission get? Very difficult indeed, it seems, in this escalating farce where a self-styled ladies’ man, Simon, challenges Gareth’s advice about how to chat up the opposite sex, Gareth develops an attachment to the woman of Reece’s dreams, the lies pile on top of each other, and confusion reigns.
A Moment in Time
ASIN: B0753NHCQ4
A potpourri of stories about murder and the mystical interspersed with moments of mirth. A fortune-teller makes predictions that turn out to be uncannily correct – to the misery of all. A couple write to each other after a long break and spar over what secrets to reveal. A woman discovers she has the power to kill whomever she wants by supernatural means. Marr often explores the issue of time. How trapped are we by the past and particularly by certain key moments? Suspenseful, surprising and, at times, poignant in their insight, these tales are never less than entertaining.
The Final Act of Miss Tidy
ISBN-13: 978-1-913036-27-0
A care assistant, Fiona Tidy, has gone missing and DCI Michael Janaway sets out to find her, encouraged by one of her service users, a young autistic man called Stewie. Janaway, who has autistic traits himself, is working against time, since two women have already been murdered recently in his home city of Cambridge, and the more he looks into Fiona’s disappearance, the likelier, it seems, the outcome will be tragic. Fiona has written in adoring terms about her therapist, the mysterious ‘B’, in her diary, and it turns out, on further investigation, that this is not the first woman the therapist has known who has gone missing…
So far, so simple. But where is B? And how long before there is more bad news? Janaway, who is at a crossroads in his personal life, has to deal with his own turbulent feelings in uncovering a mystery that explores the foolhardiness of obsessive love, the usefulness or otherwise of psychoanalysis, and the perils of dating online.
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Tick-Tock
ISBN-13: 978-1-913717-02-5
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An assortment of characters face different dilemmas. By chance – or is it? – a man meets an old school friend while on honeymoon in Turkey. A surfer gets in trouble in Costa Rica and reflects about the way his life is going. A woman competing for the Women’s World Chess Championship suspects a member of her team of betraying her secrets. Stylishly written and at times amusing, these stories veer off in surprising directions but always maintain an iron grip on the reader.
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Nineteen
ISBN-13: 978-1-913717-59-9
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Three novellas portraying love at different stages of life. In ‘Nineteen’, a middle-aged man reflects on his first year at university, the characters he encountered, and the event that continues to haunt him. In ‘Celeste’, a couple in their thirties meet through a dating site after corresponding for weeks online. She likes him and he likes her. But is it as simple as that? In ‘Old Romantic’, a man in his forties is dismayed to discover his father is dating a much younger woman. Should he intervene or should he sort out his own marriage first? Suspense, comedy and tragedy all figure in these tales, which are guaranteed to entertain.
Mine to Avenge
ISBN-13: 978-1-7391894-0-2
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A sextet of stories in which shocks abound and secrets are laid bare. In the title story, ‘Mine to Avenge’, a man with Christian beliefs is consumed with thoughts of revenge. In ‘St Patrick’s Day’, a teenage cleaner begins an affair with her married employer. In ‘The Close’, a woman is stunned by something she discovers about a neighbour’s past. Each of these scenarios, and the three others, can be resolved in different ways. But which way? Tragedy, mystery, suspense and humour all combine to produce outcomes in which one should always expect the unexpected.
A Special Bond
ISBN-13: 978-1-7391894-1-9
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Eight enjoyable stories to enthral and entertain the reader. In the first, ‘A Special Bond’, a man is shocked to receive a letter from a stranger whose existence he had always known about but whom he had always thought would remain hidden away. In the second, ‘A Hunch’, a psychic is tested by a couple of clients who are more of a challenge for her to read than normal. In the third, ‘The Wedding’, a guest is heartbroken to attend the nuptials of a woman with whom he is in love. Five further stories follow, all with their twists and turns, which the reader can either attempt to second-guess or simply savour the quirks and ironies.
Menagerie
ISBN-13: 978-1-7391894-2-6
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The theme of murder runs through these six tales. In the title story, Josh, an eleven-year-old boy, discovers a notebook in which an anonymous diarist describes his search for his wife’s killer. Is it possible that Josh knows the characters depicted – friends of his father’s – even though they are bizarrely named after different animals? Similarly intriguing is ’The Distant Shore’, in which a hospice nurse hears confessions from not one but two of her patients, and ‘The Long Night’, about a professional footballer, in bed with his lover, who is startled by the visit of a team-mate… and the lover’s husband. The reader is challenged to look away from these exercises in suspense, which are written uniformly with stylishness and skill.