My original thoughts about another DI Fawley book was 'do we need another? They're not blowing my mind like they used to'. How wrong was I. I thoroughly enjoyed returning to the Daisy Mason case and I could have read another 200 pages of this book. 5 stars!

This is a fantastic series which has circled back the first book about missing Daisy Mason. After a break from the characters it was good to have the reminder about who’s who at the start as there’s lots of different characters, old and new, so it can be a bit confusing at times. I definitely think you need to have at least read the first book in the series to really enjoy this one as it does refer back to the past a lot.
There isn’t really proper chapters, which I found a bit hard at first, but I like all the different media used like emails, transcripts, photos etc. I always love Hunters books and this one is no different, can’t wait for the next one. I think we haven’t heard the end of Daisy!

Having followed this series since book one (I still have the honour of my name being in the front for the review) I was equally pleased to get to review this one and what a book.
It does follow on from a previous book but this can be read without having read that as it still has enough in there to work.
Needless to say Cara Hunter has done it again she has the unique quality of being "the mastermind question read" - I have started so I have to finish (and as fast as possible). Once I start one of her books I know I might as well clear my day and settle down to a damn good crime read.
Once again the characters are well described and you really get dragged into the story and can not believe what you are reading.
This will be THE crime read of 2025.

Nice to have Adam and the team back and to finally solve the mystery of what happened to Daisy eight years previously. Also nice to have new people to help out and hopefully they will put in an appearance again. When questioning old friends and family it is obvious that not everyone told the truth then and may still be holding back vital clues. The chase leads us to Ireland, America and around Britain before we finally learn the truth. Cleverly thought out plot that only reveals at the end what has happened.

Nice to have Cara back, again a cleverly worked out thriller/mystery although I am not really keen on her new writing format.

Thanks to Harper Fiction and Netgalley for the ARC of this book.
I absolutely love Cara Hunter as a writer. Her writing style is so current and fresh, totally on pointe with life and language of today. The story didn't disappoint either, it was really good revisting Daisy's life and the return of DCI Fawley and bringing back together the old crew who worked with him was brilliant idea. More please and soon.

Adam Fawley is back investigating an old case of a missing girl. The child went missing so long ago that she has been presumed dead and her mother is in prison for her murder. All is not as it seems of course and the story gets darker and darker as it delves deeper into the case and the psychology of the protagonists. It’s difficult to say much more without giving spoilers but the story is well written, chillingly characterised and effectively plotted, although the ending was a bit disappointing. I know this book is a sequel, but having not read its predecessor it stands very well on its own.

DCI Adam Fawley is back and not before time. it's been 6 long years since our last outing.
We revisit an old case involving 8 year old Daisy Mason, who we thought was dead at the hands of her mother Sharon,but when a corpse is found, everything is thrown up in the air,
Why are there links to Daisy's case 8 years later?
I love that we are totally made to feel involved with the case with newspaper clippings,journal entries,emails, recordings, and pathology reports.
Yet again, Cara has left us with an open ending,but on the bright side, we know that certain characters will be making a return in the future.
Another standout read.
Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for the ARC.

Making a Killing by Cara Hunter
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Publication date: 13/02/2025
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Cara Hunter and in particular the DI Adam Fawley series has been a firm favourite of mine since the beginning so when I saw it was making a comeback I knew I had to read it.
The book begins with a refresh which is particular useful knowing how many characters are in these novels. Forensic evidence turns up at a crime scene indicating that Daisy Mason who disappeared 8 years previously is not dead as was presumed by police. Leading DI Fawley to lead a team in two locations to identify what did in fact happen to Daisy.
Cleverly written, leaving me guessing throughout and a few twists as I have come to expect from Hunter. The alternative text types like voicemails, newspaper cuttings etc add interest to the read. This book should definitely be added to your TBR pile.
Thank you to NetGalley, Cara Hunter and Harper Collins UK for this ARC in return for an honest review.
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#books #booknerd #bookworm #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstack #bookchallenge #booklover #reader #readersofinstagram #reading #bookswithcookandacuppa #netgalley #2024reads #CaraHunter #MakingAKilling

I was so pleased to be invited to review this new DCI Fawley novel - one of my favourite police procedural series of recent years. It was great to catch up on the familiar team and see how they have progressed over the last 6 years; I enjoyed the different points of view that make up the novel although I would have liked to see more of my favourite, Gis!
It was fascinating to see how the Daisy Mason story was deconstructed and put together again in a totally different way - what a twisty, brilliant idea! I thoroughly enjoyed it and it makes a great addition to the series. I’m slightly on the fence over the ending; it was a cliffhanger but not necessarily satisfying for the reader. There will have to be another book to resolve the issue!

I love Cara Hunter but will need to wait for a more stable format in order to read this. The formatting is all over the place with fonts and sections of text all jumbled together and repeated. Really disappointing as I was enjoying what I had read so far.

As a long-term follower of Hunter, it's exciting to see Daisy Mason make a return, and it's fun to see the old team back together again. But I guess one of the problems of knowing a writer's series is that it's easy to predict where the story is going as we recognize the author's tics. That's the case here. Whereas the earlier books were shocking and full of moments that almost gave me whiplash, this one went where I thought it would... until that ending. I like a cliffhanger as much as anyone, but this feels unfinished, rather than intriguing. Still, Hunter's police characters are always fun to spend time with and the writing is involving and fluent with some welcome flashes of humour. The plot isn't as slick as I'd have liked and the trope of the reader knowing more than the police detracted from the tension for me, especially through that cliche of a journal, but a decent police procedural nevertheless.

A cold case is suddenly hot. Very hot. Why has the DNA of a murdered 8 year old turned up in the shallow grave of an unknown murder victim?

Cara Hunter brings together the cast of detectives from the previous crime, along with a few new faces, and presents the evidence to the reader through the mixed media of emails, recordings, statements and the perpetrator’s ’shadow journal’.

This is a really enjoyable read - gripping and intriguing. The sources are well woven together with clues revealed piecemeal as you read.

When Adam Fawley first encountered Daisy Mason the eight year old had gone missing from her family home before a party. Eventually, for those of us who’ve read Close to Home will know, we are told who’s held responsible for her disappearance and things are wrapped up.
Now, eight years on, our characters are about to get a shock. When a body is discovered in local woodland there is nothing to help police identify it. DNA testing reveals a hair is found at the scene. A hair belonging to none other than Daisy Mason. How can her hair be found at a crime scene when she is believed dead and someone is in prison for her murder?
The simplest answer is sometimes right…Daisy is, in fact, not dead.
So begins a curiously fascinating case. Fawley, as lead on the original investigation, is required to help the review of evidence of the time. Alongside this we have the investigation into the body discovered in the present. The two blend brilliantly, and the story is an absorbing read.
From start to finish I was hooked, as I have been with each of the other books in the series. The blending of narrative and other media once again works well, and links nicely to the focus of Hunter’s stand-alone book of last year. I won’t give away details but the ending is artfully ambiguous, hinting at a potential chance to revisit certain elements of this case if the occasion should arise.
Thanks once again to the publishers for granting me early access to this on NetGalley in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Really good police procedural with DI Adam Fawley and his team. This one relates back to a former case where a young girl went missing, presumed dead and her mother jailed for her murder. But is she really dead?
Good story, well written. Recommended.

Fawley and the team are back. It's been a couple of years - and a successful standalone - since we last met the Oxford detectives and it was a joy to re enter their world - and head back to where it all started and the disappearance, assumed murder of Daisy Miller.
Fawley has been seconded to counter terrorism and so he is puzzled when he is summoned back to Oxford HQ and even more puzzled when he finds out why. The body of an unidentified female has been found in woods in Gloucestershire, on the body is one hair which does not belong to the victim but the DNA matches someone on their database: Daisy Miller. Fawley has to get the old team back together and take on two cases, find out what really happened to Daisy Miller eight years ago and where she is now, and solve the newer murder.
The book races along thanks to expert plotting, great charaterisation and Hunter's trademark style of first person for Fawley, third for everyone else, newspaper cuttings etc. This time instead of chatrooms and comments we have a journal, taking us back to the day Daisy disappeared.
Clever, twisty and unputdownable. Highly recommended.

If you’ve read any of the Adam Fawley books before you will love this! It links back to the very first in the series and carries on the story and it’s so good!
There was a lot of characters in this so it did take me a bit to figure out who’s who but there was a little guide at the front that tells you who everyone is and a little about their backstory from the previous books.

Overall just loved how this was written and it was nice to see how all the characters have evolved. This was definitely what I needed to get back into loving reading

I’ve been waiting for this book for what seems like forever! Daisy is back and is she what I expected - hell no! Fast paced and well thought out. You can just tell this story wasn’t rushed. I loved the set up and the snippets of newspaper reports and shadow journal. It really adds emphasis to what you’re reading. It’s definitely a great addition to the Fawley Series, I just wish Cara could write a bit quicker 😜

Full disclosure, I previously gave this book a 1* review due to an unreadable arc. Since accessing a fully working arc I am now able to give a considerably different POV.

DCI Adam Fawley is given the task of overseeing two separate teams to investigate a body found in the Cotswolds. This is due to new evidence coming to light regarding the case of a suspected murder of an eight year old girl, Daisy Mason, some eight years earlier. At the time, Fawley and his team investigated and due to much circumstantial evidence, the child’s mother was charged and convicted of Daisy’s murder. Still protesting her innocence all these years later, Sharon Mason is astounded to discover that the police may have made a mistake. A HUGE mistake!

This is a slightly different Adam Fawley book. In this he is more the glue that holds the two teams together, whilst letting his colleagues take the lead and shine. A very twisty and exciting plot, that, if you can get over the issue of the police marking their own homework, it’s a book to lose yourself in and get totally absorbed.

I really liked the emails, news clippings, etc., and it was interesting to read Daisy’s journal.

Although part of a series, this works as a standalone too.

For anyone with the same arc problem I had, download via the NetGalley Shelf instead of Kindle. Formatting problem seemed to disappear.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK.

Cara Hunter is a great writer, and I loved this book. The story is excellent, and a real page-turner, and the (familiar) characters are all completely believable. I was sorry to finish the book, and look forward to the next one from this author.

Having waited 6 years for another DCI Adam Fawley instalment, I was delighted to be invited to read and review Making a killing.

This was absolutely worth the wait and a fantastic read, we revisit an old case where Daisy mason went missing presumed dead and her Mother Sharon was later convicted of her murder, When a body is found in the woods it throws up some interesting other facts which cannot be ignored. Was Fawley and his team right or wrong in 2016?

A great book that I raced through, I cannot wait for the next adventure

5 stars