Meet DS Butler: Lincolnshire roots, lab training and the 12th Karen Hart novel, Lie to Me

# Quick summary

Author Danica S. Butler (DS Butler) discusses Lie to Me, the 12th book in her Karen Hart series, published 8 September 2026. Butler draws on Lincolnshire settings and her scientific background to build a police procedural with a folkloric edge: a man who disappeared 35 years earlier returns home and is murdered, bearing a scythe-shaped brand. The case becomes personal for DS Arnie Hodgson when one victim turns out to be his childhood friend.

# Author background

Butler trained and worked as a scientist in hospital pathology and research before switching to crime fiction. She began writing while living abroad in Bahrain and later settled in Lincolnshire, where the landscape and small coastal communities shaped the atmosphere of her series. The author now lives in Hampshire but retains a strong connection to Lincolnshire for the series setting.

# The protagonist and team

DS Karen Hart is the series lead. Her backstory is a central driver: her husband and daughter were killed before the series begins, which motivates her investigative intensity and empathy. Across 12 books she has slowly rebuilt her life, formed a surrogate family in her policing team, and allowed herself to fall in love again.

DS Arnie Hodgson is the gruff, old-school detective in the team. He enjoys sausage sandwiches and conceals a sharp intelligence beneath his bluster. Originally a supporting player, Arnie's deeper backstory comes to the fore in Lie to Me, because one of the victims is his childhood friend Damon.

# Plot essentials of Lie to Me

• A man who vanished 35 years earlier returns to his coastal village and is found murdered soon after.
• The victim bears a ritualistic scythe symbol branded into his flesh. A second victim is later found with the same mark.
• The team must untangle decades of secrets among a tight-knit group of old friends, where memories of one summer evening differ.
• The killer appears to have hidden for a long time and is willing to kill again to keep those secrets buried.

# Setting and atmosphere

Humberston is a real village on the north‑east Lincolnshire coast, near Cleethorpes, but Butler fictionalises it, giving the book's Humberston a darker history than the real place. The rural, coastal landscape is used to contrast ordinary local life with the eerie folklore surrounding the scythe brand. Butler chose the scythe because it functions both as a farming implement and as the Grim Reaper's sign, linking rural realism and symbolic menace.

# Why Butler's background matters

Her laboratory and research experience shapes the procedural approach: asking questions, testing hypotheses, and following physical evidence. That training helps ground the book's investigative methods and pacing.

# Who might like this book

Readers who enjoy long-running police procedural series with character development and local settings will find this instalment satisfying. The combination of an emotionally personal case for a team member and a ritualistic, folklore-tinged element should appeal to readers who want both character-driven drama and a puzzling whodunnit.

# Final practical note

Lie to Me moves established series characters into darker personal ground while introducing a slow-burn mystery that links past disappearances to present violence. The book continues Butler's blend of procedural detail and coastal setting-based mood.