Buried Deep

by Penny Grubb

SINS OF THE PAST

Private investigator Annie Raymond is in York tailing shady Surrey businessman and suspected adulterer Damien Marks when she finds herself in the middle of a grisly murder investigation. The partial remains of a young girl have been unearthed in a farm field. And Marks is the prime suspect.

Annie is certain Marks couldn't have done it, but her efforts to clear his name pit her against two bitterly clashing foes. Cranky, secretive Detective Chief Superintendent Martyn Webber is at odds with Leo Klein, his retired former boss, who feels the case is eerily similar to one he solved ten years earlier. Is a copycat at work? Another fatality, a disappearance and a centuries-old cover-up could obscure the truth Annie is desperate to uncover before another young life is forfeited…and a ruthless killer digs her grave.

396 pages, Paperback

First published December 4, 2014

About the author

Penny is a scientist and academic (Health Informatics), and was Chair of the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society , the largest writers’ organisation in the world, for six years to 2013.
A writer all her life, she penned her first story at age 4 and won her first writing competition at age 9. In 2004 she received an international award, the Crime Writers’ Association’s Debut Dagger.
She has worked in a variety of jobs, having been on the inside of pathology labs, operating theatres and medical schools across Europe.
Working full time with one job in London, the other in Hull, in her spare time Penny writes crime novels and occasional articles for newspapers and magazines.

Reviews

[Penny Grubb · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know people have mixed feelings about authors reviewing their own books. I can see both sides. On the whole I tend to the view that if I expect other people to enjoy the read, I should show faith in the book and review it myself.

By the time I had the paperback of Buried Deep in my hands, I was well away with writing the next in the series and wasn't sure I ought to stop to look closely at Buried Deep because it could cause all sorts of confusion. But of course I did. I had to see how it looked and I love the look of it. I love the creepy cover and I find the font and layout a joy. The best of the series so far for sure.

I thought it would do no harm to read a few pages, remind myself of what it was about. And the story caught me. I read on wanting to know what happened. I know that's ridiculous. I wrote the thing. I know what happens, but I suppose it's not so different from rereading anyone else's book - I'm an avid rereader.

I'm pleased with this one. I thought the gradual assembling of the jigsaw worked. I hope other readers enjoy it too. Honest opinion: I think Buried Deep is the best of the series so far. It's book number 5 in the Annie series; number 1 in the Webber / Ahmed series.

[Harlequin Books]

Miniseries: An Annie Raymond Mystery

[Britney · Rating 2 out of 5]

It wasn't great, it was hard to follow the plot towards the end, and the motivations for the antagonists weren't really clear to me. That being said, it wasn't terrible, I was at least able to finish it and I wanted to find out what happens. I just really wasn't that invested in ANY of the characters.

[Nancy Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very complex and detailed story. With a little less extra detail, it could have been a better story. I still enjoyed reading it though and it was really a 3.5 or 3.7.

[Stuart Aken · Rating 5 out of 5]

The wonderfully idiosyncratic heroine, Annie Raymond, appears first in Penny Grubb’s detective novel, Like False Money. Buried Deep is the fifth book in the series, and this well-imagined detective has significantly developed along the way.

This story holds the reader’s interest from the beginning and never lets go. The reader easily understands Annie; her faults making her a believable creation and endearing her to us as she struggles with the difficulties sent her way. In this book, she has to work with the flawed police detective, Webber. He brings his own problems, prejudices, insights and skills to the tale, building the book into something bigger than a simple crime novel.

Penny has a way of wearing the skin of her characters, even the villains, so that the reader cares what happens. But Annie and Webber are the ones we really empathise with, in spite of their faults, or maybe because of them.

The nature of the crimes in this story will disturb some readers, but crime fiction is designed to make people think, to bring the real world into the safe environment of our homes where we can experience it without personal danger.

As always, with this author’s work, there are shocks, moments of unexpected illumination, many twists and turns, and a complex puzzle to solve. And the developing pace of the story engages the reader as both Annie and Webber are led into great danger. The denouement builds slowly at first, then the pace increases with the tension until it becomes impossible to book the book down until it’s finished. And a satisfying finish it is.

Buried Deep is more than just a crime novel. It is a well-written, engaging, absorbing and truly attention-demanding piece of fiction. If you like your crime enlivened with humour, human failings, realism, and intelligence, this book is for you. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and heartily recommend it.

[Linda Acaster · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first novel for years where I’ve needed to exchange sleep for a denouement. The book starts off mundanely enough. PI Annie Raymond, now part of a big operation in London, is embroiled in a long-term on-off surveillance of a man whose wife believes he’s playing away. Annie thinks the woman is paranoid, until in York her surveillance intersects that of a police team’s.

DS Webber is leading an enquiry into a child’s murder which might have connections to an investigation in Switzerland, and when the PI’s interest comes to light he fears for the integrity of his operation.

These two are no cinematic lone-wolves where the world stops for a single investigation. The author’s understanding of the minutiae of both police work and private investigation – and the strict legal boundaries both work within – is credibly conveyed on the page.

Webber, a married man with a roving eye, is juggling budget cuts and manpower problems, working across force areas and liaising both up the command structure and internationally. Could the killing – or is it killings? – be linked to an old case that left his former boss in mental tatters? Annie Raymond is more than happy to back out of his arena, but while finalising her paperwork she realises a single piece of information is incorrect, and Webber needs to be made aware. In doing so she precipitates the infiltrating of her firm’s digital records. It seems her mark isn’t the only one under surveillance.

If you enjoy the complexities of Scandinavian Noir, you’ll enjoy getting your teeth into this. Just ensure you have time available, because once the myriad shards start to fall into place...

[Vicki Gooding · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is gripping. We're given a look at modern technology, vs old mysteries and horror stories. P.I. Annie Raymond has been following a man for close to two years off and on at the wife's insistence he must be cheating. As long as there was a payroll, she continued to follow him. What she did not realize, was that his life would soon become entwined with something far more sinister. Because of her surveillance notes and massive pictures she is in constant communication with the authorities. The book is a thriller. Rather than gross & unwanted details to try and sell a storyline she has just enough to tickle the imagination and turn the page for more. A modern who-done-it. With multiple choices of who's guilty, and also who will bring them down. That is like life. No one is an island, and it makes Penny's books so much better than the direction some mysteries have taken. I tend to wish I could give more than 5 stars with each book. If you want a thick book, with highly enjoyable reading, you'll not be disappointed with this one.

[Madalyn Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buried Deep is the 5th detective novel that I have read from author Penny Grubb and, like all her books, I was gripped from the first page. It features her female detective, Annie Raymond, who captivated me in her first book, Like False Money. I love Annie Raymond's character. Annie is unique, endearing, very real, and got me onside from the beginning. All Penny Grubb’s characters are real, and have depth. Buried Deep is a great crime story with interesting and believable characters, including one of my favourites, flawed Detective Webber, another cleverly drawn and very real character. I can’t wait for the next Penny Grubb detective novel.

[Kim]

I enjoyed this book every much.

[Debbie Jones · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't finish