Cara Hunter’s DI Fawley series has always been top-notch, but MAKING A KILLING might be her best book yet.

Filled with intricate forensics and police procedural elements, the novel also contains the typical mix of written narrative and physical materials --- like news articles, photos and IDs of various suspects/victims --- as well as copies of emails and interview transcripts. It really draws you in and places you directly in the middle of the action. It is worth noting that Hunter has set the book in 2024 --- an eight-year jump from the previous title, HOPE TO DIE, which took place in 2016.

In an incredibly courteous turn for newcomers, Hunter provides a Fawley Files list that introduces each of the major characters from DCI Adam Fawley's team, along with updates in their lives since HOPE TO DIE. Once we have grown accustomed to these names and facts, it is down to business. In 2016, eight-year-old Daisy Mason went missing and was never found. Even though her body wasn’t recovered, her mother was sent to prison by the British courts for the alleged murder.

"...a brilliantly intriguing mystery... If you are new to this series, MAKING A KILLING is an outstanding introduction. If you are a regular, I hope you enjoy this terrific novel as much as I did."

Surprisingly, a separate incident in 2024 sheds new light on the case and turns it on its head. A woman who is walking though the woods of Hescombe is shocked when she finds her dog with a skeletal human hand in his mouth. The police arrive and assume they have uncovered the shallow grave of a missing 19-year-old, but it turns out she was much older. On the duct tape that bounds the hands of the corpse is a red human hair that ends up belonging to Daisy, who is very much alive.

This revelation calls Fawley back from leave to take over a case that he and his team thought they had solved in 2016. They now must combine forces with the Hescombe police to find out what happened to Daisy and where she is today. One extremely uncomfortable part of this new revelation involves Fawley and one of his team members going to the prison where Daisy’s mother is serving a life sentence to let her know they made a mistake. This is compounded by the fact that she has since been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

After further investigation, they come to the conclusion that the only person who could have taken Daisy and given her a new life away from the family she hated was her favorite teacher, Kate Madigan. What this leaves us with is a brilliantly intriguing mystery that makes readers question if Daisy, Kate, both of them, or someone else was responsible for the lifeless body in the shallow grave. The answers are unexpected and revelatory as Cara Hunter constructs the plot in a way that puts all of her previous work to shame.

If you are new to this series, MAKING A KILLING is an outstanding introduction. If you are a regular, I hope you enjoy this terrific novel as much as I did.