Chris Collett

Chris Collett grew up in a Norfolk seaside town, before moving to Liverpool, to train as a teacher for children with learning disabilities. The journey from east to west often involved a stop-off in Birmingham, a place she quickly decided she would never want to live. After graduating, the first job she was offered was (naturally!), in Birmingham. Within a few months she met her husband-to-be, moved to the Bournville Village Trust – within inhaling distance of the Cadbury’s chocolate factory – and she has remained in the city ever since.

After working for 25 years with children with learning disabilities and their families, Chris went on to lecure at a midlands university and has recently retired to devote more time to fiction writing. The DI Tom Mariner series evolved from a single idea: what would happen if the sole witness to a serious crime had an autism spectrum disorder and was unable to communicate what he had seen?

When not teaching or writing, Chris enjoys walking, racket sports, photography, reading, cinema, theatre and comedy. Her thoughts now on her adopted city? “Someone, somewhere, must have had a plan. What better location could there be for a crime detective?”

The first seven DI Tom Mariner books have been released in revised editions on Kindle and paperback by Joffe Books, along with a standalone: The Truth About Murder.