A murder inquiry has been opened into the death of a best-selling British author found buried in a shallow grave in the Dominican Republic.

Lindsay de Feliz's body was discovered in bags in woods near her home on the island of Moncion yesterday after her friends and authorities mounted a massive search.

Her husband was being questioned after being arrested by police shortly before her body was found.

Dominican Republic newspaper Hoy reported today that the 60-year-old British woman's mutilated body was found buried two feet underground in a wooded area.

Her remains were reportedly wrapped in black plastic bags used for dog food and a yellow sheet, and her head was in another black bag with tape around her neck.

The Wolverhampton University-educated expat had written two books about her experiences in the Caribbean including her recovery from a near-fatal shooting by a burglar.

Her friends had offered a reward for information leading to the missing Brit being located.

The grim discovery was made just after midday local time yesterday following a massive search involving friends, police and civil protection workers.

A spokesman for the local police force said before her body was found her 50-year-old Dominican husband Danilo was being questioned after being arrested as a matter of routine while the search got underway.

Hoy reported today one of Danilos adult sons, named as Dani Alberto Feliz Martinez, 29, had also been detained.

The newspaper reported that a 37-year-old man had also been arrested.

One of the books she wrote after emigrating to the Caribbean nearly 20 years ago is an Amazon best-seller called What About Your Saucepans.

The book detailed how she walked away from marriage and a dream lifestyle of expensive holidays and designer cars in Britain to pursue her scuba diving dream.

She also told in the book how she was shot in a bungled 2006 robbery.

Lindsay, thought to be from Cambridgeshire originally, was last seen around 3.30pm on Tuesday getting off a bus outside her home.

She said last year in an interview about her new life in the sun: I came here for six months and ended up staying.

I married a Dominican and I was working as a scuba diving instructor and everything was perfect until I was shot through the throat one day during a burglary at my house.

That meant I had to give up my career diving and take a different career which was writing.

Following that my husband ran for local mayor and we were involved in all sorts of political corruption and shenanigans.

We ended up fleeing for our lives and we now live on a mountain 1500ft up in the north-west where we keep goats and chickens and dogs and life is very calm.

She added of the shooting: When I was shot in the throat the bullet went through my lungs and I couldnt breathe.

A big fear was that I was going to die which I very nearly did. I was taken to hospital by friends on the back of a motorbike. I have a blank for around six hours afterwards.

Lindsay told last month on an Internet blog how she worked as paralegal for her husband, a lawyer whose clients were frequently expats.

The animal lover, who had worked for a string of financial service firms as a marketing director in the UK before travelling the world as a scuba diving instructor and settling in the Dominican Republic, described herself on social media as a writer, blogger, researcher and translator.

In a YouTube interview titled Escape the Rat Race to Pursue Your Dream, she revealed: In the UK I was earning a quarter of a million dollars a year, maybe half a million in bonuses.

I had so much money I didnt know what to do with it. To cut my hair every six weeks was like 600 to 700 dollars. It was peanuts.

I should have been happy but when I woke up in the morning I wasnt springing out of bed and the only time I was really happy was when I was scuba diving.

Friends have paid tribute to her on social media.One said in a message by a photo of a black ribbon: This is shocking and devastating. Lindsay you will be missed.

You were such a beautiful person with a heart full of gold. RIP my friend.

Another added: This made me sick to my stomach. Rest in peace Lindsay. Life has not treated you fair. I cannot believe this is happening.

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Missing British author's body found buried in shallow grave in the Caribbean - Mirror.co.uk