1 August 2022
93,000 words approx.
Standalone
One Saturday afternoon, three friends head north for a long weekend. On Monday, they will return home, having buried a body in the woods.
For Hazel, reeling from the discovery of her long-term partner’s infidelity, a getaway to a remote coastal village with her best friends, Mickie and Claire, seems like the ideal remedy. And when a local man, Aidan, takes a shine to her, Hazel wonders if she’s ready to move on.
Within hours, however, Aidan is dead, leaving Hazel and her friends with a dreadful choice: to come clean or mount a cover-up. Determined to protect Hazel at all costs, the friends forge a desperate pact.
But secrets have a habit of catching up with you – and of testing the bonds of friendship to their limits. And Hazel is about to find out that, no matter how much she might wish otherwise, you can’t bury the truth forever.
A gripping standalone psychological thriller from the McIlvanney Prize-nominated author of the Anna Scavolini mysteries, Bury Your Secrets is perfect for fans of Ruth Ware’s The Lying Game, Andrea Bartz’s We Were Never Here and Luca Veste’s The Six.
Get a sneak peek at Bury Your Secrets by reading the prologue and first chapter.
“Bury Your Secrets [...] is as accomplished as the author’s earlier Anna Scavolini series, with the covering up of a death having grim consequences for a group of friends.”
— Barry Forshaw, Crime Time and Financial Times
“Bury Your Secrets is a classic M. R. Mackenzie crime thriller; tightly plotted with strong characterisation, authentic motivations and behaviours, mixed in with the requisite dose of suspicion, paranoia and murder most foul.”
— Noel Megahey, To the Last Page
“One of the most terrifying books I have ever read which left me totally drained for hours afterwards. Electrifyingly brilliant.”
— Amazon reviewer ★★★★★
“It’s been a while since a book pulled me in so completely! The telling of this story immediately grabbed my attention, beginning with an ominous drive in the woods. Then there are glimpses of emails that were written but never sent. I couldn’t stop reading until I reached the end!”
— juliereadzintherockies ★★★★★
“This story was thrilling, entertaining and intensely suspenseful, which kept me turning the pages quickly just to see how it would all end. […] This was an intriguing psychological thriller with all kinds of twists and turns throughout that you really don’t see coming, which kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through. I thought I knew how it would all end, but I was sorely mistaken.”
— red_angel_2.0 ★★★★★
“For a psychological thriller it holds all the elements you suspect. It’s a quick paced read because how the author narrates this and directs you to each pin post. I wasn’t expecting the phone call, I wasn’t expecting the time lapse it really did add some brilliant points to make this an outstanding read. I also loved how different it was to the first book i read by this author also but was glad the level of description was there throughout this one too. If you’re a lover of this genre like me then I’d definitely add this to your TBR.”
— twilight_reader ★★★★★
“I loved this book! This is a true psychological thriller: fast paced, action packed and an unguessable ending. Mackenzie did a great job of creating such an exciting read whilst also giving depth to the characters involved. […] Every time I thought I knew where this book was going I was wrong, right until the end. It was so easy to read and I fully lost all sense of time reading it, I just had to get to the end. If you enjoy a good thriller, definitely give this a read!”
— bookshereforever ★★★★★