LET ME LIE – a letter to readers

Dear Reader

I’d love to tell you about the real-life case that inspired LET ME LIE, but if I do that it will spoil the surprise for anyone who hasn’t read it yet… Instead I’ll tell you a little about the cast of the book, because as I wrote it they became as real to me as my own family.

Anna Johnson is a new mother. She fell pregnant during the aftermath of her parents’ double suicide, and has been struggling ever since to come to terms with what happened. Now that she’s a mum herself, she can’t imagine how her parents could have wilfully abandoned her. When an anonymous note suggests there’s more to her parents’ deaths than meets the eye, she begins digging in earnest.

I remember those months of early motherhood, when I second-guessed everything I did, and wondered if my instincts were reliable. I wanted to explore how it would feel for Anna to embark on such a serious and emotional quest, and who she might find to help her.

She finds Murray Mackenzie, a detective of thirty years, who rejoined the police as a civilian after his retirement, and now runs the front counter at Anna’s local police station. I worked with lots of Murrays when I was in the police; men and women with a wealth of experience, who were too often overlooked after retirement because they were no longer front line.

Murray knows that if he refers Anna to his detective colleagues, who have busy caseloads of their own, they will quickly dismiss her. All she has is one anonymous note, and a ‘feeling’ that her parents were murdered. He decides to investigate the case himself, and to pass it to CID once he has concrete evidence of foul play.

I loved writing Murray, not least because of his marriage to Sarah, a funny, quirky, complex woman with mental health issues that have seen her in and out of hospital throughout their marriage. They have an incredibly strong relationship, both drawing strength from the other’s presence, and I fell a little bit in love with them both. I hope you do, too.

Very best wishes

Clare Mackintosh

LET ME LIE – a letter to readers

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