This picks up Daisy Mason‘s story from Adam Fawley #1 ‘ Close To Home’.

Who killed eight-year-old Daisy Mason in 2016? Her mother Sharon is convicted, receives a life sentence and must serve 25 years minimum but is it an unsound conviction? Although Daisy’s body is never found, Sharon‘s husband Barry believes she does commit the crime, eaten with jealousy over her pretty daughter. Adam Fawley, the original investigating officer, believes justice is served. However, journalist Nick Vincent, host of a true crime show, receives new evidence and the team are on the case, attempting to verify what they have learned. Attention switches to Henscombe in the Cotswolds when a dog and its walker make a grisly discovery. Who is the victim? When forensic evidence links the woman’s body to Daisy, Fawley is back on the case. What is going on? Is it possible that mistakes are made in 2016?

I love this series and tend to get a bit giddy with excited anticipation prior to reading the latest instalment. Expectations fulfilled? That’ll be a resounding yes. It follows the usual mixed media format which I thoroughly enjoy as it’s done so expertly and well with Cara Hunter making the storyline skilfully flow. It has multiple layers to the plot which adds to the perplexing complications of the enquiry with some of the revelations pulling you up very sharply indeed. I especially like the psychology element through which some very clear pictures emerge which aren’t necessarily pretty. The plot has more twists, turns and dead ends than Hampton Court maze, some terrific cliffhanger section endings which deepens an already suspenseful read. There are lies of humongous proportions and betrayal of such enormity that it beggars belief.

As usual, the characterisation is excellent. Adam Fawley is one of the most interesting central protagonist in this genre and he continues to fascinate. He’s serious but not dull, he has authority but is not authoritarian and is a man of sufficient strength of personality he can own mistakes. There’s a great diverse team around him too, as well as a very entertaining daughter in Lily!

Overall, this is another cracking read with very good suspenseful ending. I hope the author doesn’t make us wait too long to find out what happens next. I can hardly wait.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to the publishers for the much appreciated arc in return for an honest review.

Eight Years ago Sharon Mason was jailed for killing her daughter Daisy. But Daisy isn’t dead. So DI Fawley got it wrong and now needs to fix it. Fawley is now a DCI on secondment to Counterterrorism, and other members of his team at St Aldgate’s police station in Oxford have been variously promoted or moved on, but when the clue that Daisy is still alive is discovered the old team has to be reassembled (I’m not sure this is in accordance with protocol). That clue is linked to the discovery of a woman’s body in a shallow grave in Gloucestershire, a different police jurisdiction about 45 miles away. Three questions arise: who is the dead woman, where has Daisy been, and how can the original investigation have got it wrong? The only logical answer to the last of these is that Daisy (only eight but famously intelligent and manipulative) and an accomplice (unknown and not on the police radar at the time) must have engineered the evidence (callously putting her mother in the frame) and then disappeared from the public record.
This is the seventh book in the Fawley series and stylistically it mirrors the earlier books, so I can cheat here and quote from the review I wrote for the sixth book: This is pure police procedural, there are no loose cannons, no mavericks. All the players know their jobs and don’t let personal issues get in the way – there are transcripts of interviews, extracts from newspapers, copies of e-mails, recordings of phone calls – some readers will find the latter an advantage because it gives the story verisimilitude, others might be put off by the font and layout changes. The team follow the clues and comes to a conclusion, but is it the right one? The ending here is rather rushed, it seems to me, with at least two open ends, so it seem clear that a sequel is being presaged, hopefully not one that will require us to wait another six year. Otherwise it’s quite cleverly plotted and a good puzzle.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

While I understand a proof copy isn't perfect the formatting on this was terrible. The mixed media was chopped up, particularly news stories which affected the ending whereby outcomes were given. This, of course, isn't the author's fault and I haven't marked down for that but the publisher should take note as many others have mentioned it.

On the whole, this book was okay. I've read all the others and enjoyed them. I think the plot around Daisy was a good idea. It just felt a little slow for me.

Also, these books often have lots of characters, which I've managed to get my head around. This book had lots more. It made it hard sometimes to remember who was who.

The mixed media is always a great touch. I wish I could've read it better because of the formatting.

DC Hawley is one ofy favourite characters I loved.this book. I couldn't put it down

What a fantastic read

Thanks for the opportunity to review

Thank you to Hemlock Press and Netgalley for my ARC copy of this!

It took me a few days to gather my thoughts on this.

I LOVED close to home - the very original Daisy Mason story - I read it years ago and still refer to it now.

I read this version of Making a Killing on my Kindle but the formatting of this was so hard to read - this story has lots of mixed media / not just story but the kindle version of this just did not read very well.

I did read the full thing regardless, but it was just a 3 star for me.

I was so disappointed by the ending. There was no resolution, no closure and it ruined what had been a fairly decent, though farfetched story. There were many unanswered questions and it felt like the last few chapters of the book had been left out.

In 2016, eight-year-old Daisy Mason vanished from her Oxford home.
Her disappearance made the national press and the final culprit shocked everyone. DCI Adam Fawley remembers the case well, he arrested Daisy’s mother for murder himself. But her body was never found.

DCI Adam Fawley and the team are now on the case, as recent forensic evidence at a murder scene calls the case into question making them question what happened to Daisy.

This is the 7th installment in the series and I definitely recommend reading them in sequence. There is mixed media through the chapters and I found the whole format so engaging. This was such a fabulous police procedural and the details of the investigation and the past really drew me in. Another fabulous instalment by the author. 4.5*

Thanks so much to NetGalley and HarperFiction for this gifted review copy.

The premise of this book was good and I like Adam Fawley but it was spoiled by all the illustrations and inserts Also a large number of phrases paragraphs were repeated.

I love the DI Fawley police procedurals and this was mo exception to that. This book jumped forward a few years from the last book and the author aided the reader with this with a brief synopsis for key characters at the start. The book revisits the disappearance of Daisy from the first book in the series. Her DNA being discovered on a murder victim 8 years on throws the historical case in to question and brings the original team back together.

Cara Hunter has pulled it out of the bag and it was great to be on another DI Fawley Adventure! I would 100% recommend this book when it’s released in February 2025. Had me hooked from page 1

It left me wanting more and I would love DI Fawley to return in the future to finish this case.

Oh my goodness. Cara Hunter is brilliant. I found this book chilling but riveting. We get to meet Daisy Mason again but not as she was when we last met her. What a character and what a plot. I couldn't read this just before going to bed.
This is a must read and I have only one piece of advice - DO NOT invite Daisy over for tea! I'm looking forward to the next Daisy instalment.

When you wake up at 2am and carry on reading the book you absolutely can’t put down you know it’s just brilliant!! Twists and turns galore with a heck of a twist at the end that sends your bloody cold. Yes, it’s another fabulous Cara Hunter novel - can’t possibly recommend it enough!

Than you to Netgalley the author and publishers for an arc in exchange for an honest review

DI Adam Fawley and his team here return to the case featured in the first book of the series, the disappearance of a little girl, Daisy Mason. Although no body was ever found, Daisy’s mother was convicted of her murder. Eight years later, the body of a young woman is found in woodland by a historic tree famous for the execution of a witch, but also bound with tape carrying Daisy’s DNA. Fawley finds himself once more investigating his old case- what really happened to Daisy Mason? Hunter displays all her usual skills of twisty plot development, tension building and complex investigations pieced together to solve an unexpected crime. It is unusual to revisit an old case and see what happened to the characters, and that works really well here, including a sensitive look at how the original crime and its consequences affected everyone involved. It also features one of the most disturbing characters I have ever come across in fiction! My only criticism is that the large number of police characters investigating from fifferent forces meant that we only had fleeting glimpses of old favourites such as Gis, Ev and Erika and didn’t really have the chance to catch up much with their back stories. I foundit quite difficult to keep up with who was who, even though Hunter supplies a cast list at the beginning. Generally though, another gripping read that will keep the reader turning pages to get to the stunning conclusion.

I was so pleased to discover Cara has written a new DCI Fawley novel and boy is it a good one! Very difficult to put down, I just had to find out the outcome. Brilliant plot, great characters. Anyone who enjoys a police procedural should read this book. I highly recommend it, thank you #netgalley

I was so disappointed as I have read all of her books but this one wasn’t for me I didn’t like all the illustrations on some of the pages and it was very confusing I couldn’t even finish it. I felt that it wasn’t her writing it sorry.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC

As always Cara has written another thrilling book, and this time we get to revisit a case and character we’ve met before.
Following Fawley and his team through the investigation and all the twists and turns this case took was great and trying to solve it all alongside them made for an interesting read. This is the last book in the series and I’ll be eagerly awaiting the next book, whether it is a stand alone or another Fawley book.

Gripping story, held me to the end.
A child murdered, a mother arrested. But 8 years later could this daughter be alive? A hair found on a second body suggest that perhaps the straightforward case those years ago might be more than it seems.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC in return for my honest review

I really loved Close to Home, the Daisy Mason origin story, I wasn't sure how I felt about delving into that story again as the first book wrapped incredibly well with a brilliant twist. I have mixed feelings now that I've finished Making A Killing - whilst I enjoyed learning more about Daisy / Sabrina the ending felt incredibly anticlimactic, I was surprised when it ending I expected more chapters.
For me there were too many characters and it felt like a challenge to keep track of who was who - whilst I appreciate there's a character index at the start of the book it's not easy to access on Kindle.
I really enjoy the Adam Fowley series and look forward to the next, sadly this isn't the strongest.
3 stars.

I had high hopes for this book and it started well. I like an introduction to characters and although it is realistic to have so many police in a team, trying to keep track of 10 police members not to mention the 10/12 other characters, it became impossible.
I got the gist of the story, I knew what was happening but I couldn’t tell you who was who.
The ending? Frustrating/predictable/tired.

#MakingAKilling #NetGalley
Brilliant.
When Nick Vincent, producer of true-crime show Infamous, hears about an explosive new angle on a high-profile case—the 2016 murder of an eight-year-old girl in Oxford—he leaps at the chance to send a researcher to verify the claims. Two months later, a dog walker discovers a woman’s body, bound and buried in a shallow grave in the woods. Forensic evidence links the corpse to the disappearance of that same child. DCI Adam Fawley, the original investigating officer, is called in to run the enquiry. And he remembers the case well—he arrested the child’s mother for murder. A murder he now knows she didn’t commit. The investigation raises more questions than answers. What connects the two crimes? Where has the dead girl been all these years? How did she manage to disappear? For Adam Fawley, this is personal.. I loved it.
I hope she'll come up with a standalone thriller in this series.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK Harper Fiction for giving me an advance copy.