Turn The Page: Truth and Lies - Caroline Mitchell

The adopted daughter of a highly respected police officer, DI Amy Winter, is keen to follow in her father’s footsteps. But when she receives a letter from the prison cell of Lillian Grimes, one half of a notorious husband-and-wife serial-killer team, Amy finds out something that sends her whole world into disarray.

Responsible for a string of killings decades ago, Lillian is nothing short of a psychopathic murderer. And also Amy’s biological mother. She tells Amy that she is ready to unveil the location of three of her victims, but only if Amy plays along with her sinister game.

While her fellow detectives frantically search for a young girl taken from her mother’s doorstep, Amy must confront her own dark past. Remembering an older sister who sacrificed herself to save her, Amy faces a race against time to uncover the missing bodies. But what if Grimes has been pulling the strings even tighter than Amy thought from behind bars? And can she overcome her demons to prevent another murder?

Research and the ideas behind ‘Truth & Lies’

When writing ‘Truth & Lies’ Caroline wanted to challenge her main protagonist, Amy Winter. Amy is a successful DI who wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps. What was the worst thing she could be put through? The idea of a letter from prison formed. A traumatic past buried deep in Amy’s psyche from the age of four. Discovering her parents were Britain’s worst serial killers would shake Amy to the core.

Caroline took inspiration from real-life killers Fred and Rosemary West. She saw there was no shortage of material on the couple and the horrors of their past. She tried to imagine what it would have been like growing up in such a household, using her own police experience in interviewing traumatised and vulnerable children as they struggled to cope.

Caroline also recalled the people she dealt with in her own career whose troubled upbringings drew them to a life of violence and crime. And so the idea of ‘nurture versus nature’ was born. Amy was the youngest of several siblings, afforded a pampered life by her adoptive police officer parents who took her in. Would her biological brother and sisters have fared as well?

So why wouldn’t Amy Winter just walk away when her mother, Lillian Grimes, wrote to her from the confines of her cell? Because there were three more bodies yet to be found. Yet again, Caroline took inspiration from another true-life case. Myra Hindley and Ian Brady took the secret of the burial site of their twelve year old victim Keith Bennett to the grave. Who could forget the heart-rending pleas of his mother before she died?

Truth and Lies is the first in a new series featuring Amy Winter which explores the darkness behind such crimes.

About the author

Shortlisted for a number of awards both in the US and in the UK, a USA Today bestseller and no 1 on Amazon in the US, Australia & the UK with over 30k followers on Twitter, a former police detective, Caroline Mitchell uses her in-depth knowledge of police procedures to create complex and suspenseful psychological thrillers. Caroline worked in CID and specialised in roles dealing with the vulnerable victims of domestic abuse and serious sexual offences. The mental strength shown by the victims of these crimes was a constant source of inspiration. A working mother of four, Caroline started writing due to the stress of dealing with such serious incidents and a way of processing the crimes she witnessed. Born and brought up in Ireland, she is happily married with four children and lives in Essex.

Caroline Mitchell is available for interview and to write pieces. For more information & review copies please contact Sophie Ransom at Midas PR - sophie.ransom@midaspr.co.uk | 020 7361 7860