Location: New Zealand
Member Since: Aug. 12, 2010

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Tannis Laidlaw

Biography

Tannis has worn many hats: occupational therapist in her early days, psychologist, university researcher and lecturer at various universities and medical schools and now author. She's written many first drafts which are safely stored on her hard drive (perhaps, one day, to be revised…) but she has published four novels and two books of short stories. Two of the novels are in paperback as well as ebook format. She lives with her husband in various places: two homes in New Zealand - a town house in Auckland and an adobe beach house on an isolated bay in Northland - and, to take full advantage of the northern summer, a tiny summer cottage (off the grid and boat-access only) on a remote lake in North-western Ontario in Canada. All are places perfect for writing.

Smashwords Interview

When you're not writing, how do you spend your time?
There are plenty of other activities that are associated with writing, some of which are fun and others decidedly not so. I manage my Twitter account (not a favourite activity); I edit and re-write my own work (a favourite); I edit and critique my friends' and associates' work (often a pleasure, sometimes not...but always part of the learning curve.). Otherwise I like reading (also a writing-related activity - never forget that!), getting enough vitamin D by being outdoors whenever I can, swimming in lake or sea, socialising, gardening - travelling too. Did I mention friends, lunches, good wine, gardening....
What inspires you to get out of bed each day?
It depends on how well I've slept. If I've had a wakeful night, I probably have all sorts of goodies ready to put into my writing. If I've had a good night's sleep, I'll start the imaginative process while at the keyboard, after breakfast. So, you see, having 'wakey' periods in the nighttime can be productive!
Read more of this interview.

Where to find Tannis Laidlaw online

Website: http://www.tannislaidlaw.com
Twitter: @TannisLaidlaw
Facebook: Facebook profile

Where to buy in print

http://amazon.com

Series

Darkwater Lake Mysteries by
Darkwater Lake, with its many islands, bays and vast stretches of water, sometimes conceals secrets beneath its serene surface. Jodie Hill, disgraced academic, now shelters in her off grid cottage in a remote part of the lake where she tries to regain personal peace and foster a new enthusiasm for writing books. But in each unique story, Jodie is driven to forego her life of isolation if she wants to regain the serenity she knows Darkwater Lake can provide. She becomes an involved amateur sleuth by using her skills she once developed as a researcher. You’ll find yourself engrossed in this edgy cozy murder mystery series, where, if you crave atmospheric whodunits brimming with suspense and red herrings, each of the Darkwater Mysteries promises a riveting read that will keep you guessing until the very end.
A Swimmer Is Dead: Darkwater Lake Mystery #2
Price: $4.99 USD.
The Madeleine Brooks Mysteries by
To get her stress levels down, Madeleine Brooks switches careers from a professional probation officer dealing with criminals and all that entails to estate agent in the English countryside dealing with ordinary people. Except they are often not ordinary and she finds herself deep in solving the whys and the wherefores of missing people, bodies long buried or murders most foul. If you love English mysteries set in quaint Oxfordshire villages with characters who walk off the pages into your life, then you’ll enjoy Madeleine Brooks, Estate Agent (and frequently, Amateur Detective) in her new career. Stress free? Not exactly….
Death in Cold Waters: A Madeleine Brooks Mystery - Book 1
Price: $2.99 USD.
Death at Valley View Cottage: A Madeleine Brooks Mystery - Book 3
Price: $3.99 USD.
Death in Lachmore Wood: Madeleine Brooks Mystery Book 4
Price: $3.99 USD.
Death at the Olde Woodley Grange
Price: $3.99 USD.

Books

The Nanny Is Dead: Darkwater Lake Mystery #3 by
Price: $4.99 USD. Words: 83,030. Language: Canadian English. Published: March 31, 2024 . Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Cozy, Fiction » Mystery & detective » Amateur sleuth
When you're a disgraced professor hiding out from scandal, securing a winter house-sitting gig at a sprawling remote lakefront estate should promise complete escapism. But for Jodie Hill, it only brings another gruesome murder mystery to solve...
The Drowned Canoe: Darkwater Lake Prequel Novella by
Price: $2.99 USD. Words: 41,370. Language: Canadian English. Published: January 20, 2024 . Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Cozy, Fiction » Mystery & detective » Amateur sleuth
Jodie is alerted by the barking of a frantic pup in a swamped canoe drifting in the middle of Darkwater Lake. Her hopes for a tranquil escape at the lake disappear when she finds the waterlogged corpse of the pup’s owner. Worse, when she talks to those staying at the dead man’s fishing camp, she is told too many stories of how the man died, all contradictory, and knows they are lies. It’s murder.
A Swimmer Is Dead: Darkwater Lake Mystery #2 by
Series: Darkwater Lake Mysteries, Book 2. Price: $4.99 USD. Words: 85,830. Language: Canadian English. Published: January 8, 2024 . Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Cozy, Fiction » Mystery & detective » Amateur sleuth
Seeking justice in a cozy lake setting, Jodie Hill turns to amateur sleuthing to solve a chilling murder mystery. Failure might taint the picturesque lake's tranquility forever.
Death at the Olde Woodley Grange by
Series: The Madeleine Brooks Mysteries. Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 65,000. Language: British English. Published: August 5, 2021 . Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Traditional British, Fiction » Mystery & detective » Women Sleuths
Like a warm and clever amateur detective? Meet estate agent Maddie and her client, Fern, who finds the body of her ex in her new garden. #5 in The Madeleine Brooks Mystery series is set in an Oxfordshire village, and is similar to those wonderful tales written by Faith Martin and Frances Evesham. It's like Miss Marple meets Midsomer Murders but with manors and cottages and country houses.
Death in Lachmore Wood: Madeleine Brooks Mystery Book 4 by
Series: The Madeleine Brooks Mysteries. Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 64,390. Language: British English. Published: August 20, 2020 . Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Amateur sleuth, Fiction » Mystery & detective » Traditional British
(4.67 from 3 reviews)
Hidden secrets. Three deaths. A grieving family. Are these deaths accidents? Or the toll of a determined killer...
Death at Valley View Cottage: A Madeleine Brooks Mystery - Book 3 by
Series: The Madeleine Brooks Mysteries. Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 65,430. Language: British English. Published: June 30, 2020 . Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Traditional British, Fiction » Mystery & detective » Cozy
A mystery for those who love British crime fiction. Death at Valley View Cottage is the third in a new cozy-with-an-edge mystery series written by award winning novelist Tannis Laidlaw in the grand tradition of MIDSOMER MURDERS, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh and Ruth Rendall, with an intelligent and perceptive amateur sleuth who delights in using her little grey cells to figure it all out.
Death in Cold Waters: A Madeleine Brooks Mystery - Book 1 by
Series: The Madeleine Brooks Mysteries. Price: $2.99 USD. Words: 61,160. Language: British English. Published: June 14, 2020 . Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » Women Sleuths, Fiction » Mystery & detective » Traditional British
(4.50 from 4 reviews)
A Murder Mystery Perfect For Lovers of British Crime Fiction Madeleine Brooks, a probation officer, seeks to uncover the truth about a crime for which one of her clients has been imprisoned. Her search to unearth the truth brings her into dangerous conflict with a scheming and treacherous murderer.
Thursday's Child by
Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 96,830. Language: English (New Zealand dialect). Published: February 3, 2018 . Categories: Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Psychological thriller
Award winning author Tannis Laidlaw’s suspenseful psychological mystery, Thursday's Child, pits the superbly trained Kidnapper’s Trust agents against abductors of children…until holes start appearing putting everyone in danger. Agent Fliss Whitelaw is terrified things are spirally out of control with potentially disastrous results, and she must do something about it.
The Pumpkin Eater's Wife by
Price: $4.99 USD. Words: 96,910. Language: English (New Zealand dialect). Published: May 14, 2017 . Categories: Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Psychological thriller, Fiction » Women's fiction » General
Is murder ever justified? Especially when your life has been made toxic by the egomaniac you’ve been married to for years and years? And who would be just as dangerous to anyone else he ensnares? Jeanie thinks so. And acts on it.
Half Truths and Whole Lies by
Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 92,940. Language: English. Published: May 13, 2017 . Categories: Fiction » Thriller & suspense » Psychological thriller, Fiction » Women's fiction » General
Ever had a bully for a boss? What if you were headhunted across the world to a dream job in a prestigious university? But, on arrival, you notice your charming boss shows hints of being a micro-managing narcissistic bully. Students are being defrauded but the administration supports its own. Welcome to Sophie's world. Should she do something about it? Can she do something about it?
Warring Warren and Other Short Short Stories by
Price: Free! Words: 18,980. Language: English (New Zealand dialect). Published: October 27, 2013 . Categories: Fiction » Anthologies » Flash fiction
Flash fiction? A complete short short story with beginning, middle and a smart ending in about 500 words? Shrewd, alarming, ironic, or affecting your heart, the short short story can grab you, upset you or make you laugh, but is never humdrum. And it’s all on one page.Here are 26 short short stories to grab your attention.
Bye Baby Bunting by
Price: $3.99 USD. Words: 110,120. Language: English. Published: January 2, 2013 . Categories: Fiction » Mystery & detective » General
(4.67 from 3 reviews)
An unwanted pregnancy, adoption then a kidnapping – is seizing your birth-child a crime?

Tannis Laidlaw's tag cloud

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