More than two years since the last episode in this series, so a reminder of the characters and a little about their background at the front of the book is very useful. This plot hales back to Book 1 in the series, so although this can be read as a stand-alone far more would be gained by reading the first book in the series. There are twists and turns galore in this book and the ending has yet another twist. A very satisfying read, if somewhat complicated.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Cara Hunter/HarperCollins UK for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

I was really looking forward to Making a Killing by Cara Hunter, but unfortunately, I just couldn’t get through it due to the formatting of the ARC. The inclusion of news articles is a great concept, but in the version I received, they were tiny and spread awkwardly over multiple pages, making them practically unreadable. I could have struggled through it, but I knew it would take away from my enjoyment of the story, and I didn’t want that to affect my overall experience or my review.
That said, I absolutely WILL be buying a copy when it’s officially released next month, as I was really eager to read it. I’ll update my review once I’ve had the chance to properly immerse myself in the story as it was meant to be read. I hate not finishing ARCs, but in this case, I just couldn’t give the book the attention it deserved in the format I had. Looking forward to trying again soon!

Love love loved this. It is the 2nd in a series but I didn’t feel I needed to have read the 1st as the picture was well described. Does someone come back from the dead, where have they been, who knows, who’s involved, who is the murderer. All questions that the police need to answer.

When a body is found by a dog walker DNA evidence links to a case from 8 years earlier, the murder of Daisy Mason. Currently her mother is incarcerated for the crime but now may be able to be released as it seems Daisy is still alive.
Now a DCI Fawley and his team link up with the force local to the burial site to try and solve both cases.

I loved the reappearance of Daisy Mason and characters from the first book in the series ‘Close to home’ and how the two cases were intertwined. As well as the POV of the Police officers there were also excerpts from a diary giving us an insight into the character at the centre of the story. There is also a mix of media in the form of newspaper articles, emails, interview transcripts and reports which cleverly convey information.

There was a large cast of characters which I found quite difficult to keep up with at the start of the book but as I read on it became easier.

An intricate plot which keeps you reading, part of a fantastic series of Police procedurals but can be read as a standalone (would recommend reading at least book 1 first).

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Loved this book, though the formatting issues in the ARC made it really difficult.

You can read this as a standalone but it’s much more enjoyable if you know the backstory.

Not my favourite Cara Hunter book by a very long way, in fact I disliked it, which is sad as I have mostly enjoyed the three other Fawley books that I have read. The book dropped further in my estimation by the fact that the author felt that 130+ uses of an extreme expletive was necessary, up from the "early days" of just three dozen.

Very likely to be the last of Cara Hunter's books that I read.

Truly sad that authors feel the need to be "modern" by adding totally gratuitous expletives. Reviewers would be rightly censored and censured if they used those same words in their reviews.

Stunning piece of work. A set of charecters that are always a delight to explore more especially with returning charecters from the first in this series.
Great plot, great twists and turns. Always undeniably amazing.

When a body is found in the woods, it triggers an old case to be reopened.
Daisy Mason, eight years old and killed, but no body has ever been found. Eight years later and a hair found near the body belongs to Daisy. Where has she been? And who helped to spirit her away?
Fawley is back, and with his team and others from Manchester, they have to go through all the files again.
We hear from Daisy through her shadow journal, which was quite creepy.
I didn't love this one as much as the other Fawley series. Maybe because there were a lot of characters to get your head around. Also, some of the team members have been promoted or moved on, and I found that a tad confusing to follow.
However, I loved the ending. No spoilers.
I look forward to reading another Fawley but in his own setting.
Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK for the ARC in return for an honest review.

I always enjoy Cara Hunter's books and particularly liked being reunited with Adam Fawley and his team. Great to have the updated biographies at the beginning as well.
I must admit to having forgotten all about Daisy Mason, but her story soon came back to me and I became happily involved in the trademark twists and turns of a Ms Hunter tale.
My only quibble, no fault of the author, was that it was really hard to see the newspaper articles and photos on my kindle which was really disappointing as they are such a vital and enjoyable part of the plot.
Thank you to netgalley and Harper Collins for an advance copy of this book

I have not read any books in this series, but I have read Murder in the Family by this author and I really enjoyed the mixed media format. I know that some readers do not like this format, but I enjoy it a lot. I had to change over to my Kindle Fire to see the graphics as my basic Kindle reader struggled a little with it.

The story is very twisted, dark and absolutely devious from the beginning to the end. The synopsis does a great job of highlighting the key facts; the death of an 8-year-old from several years ago, the discovery of a body, forensic evidence suggests it is from the dead 8-year-old!

This is the 7th book in this series, the case of the dead girl is one in which DI Adam Fawley was part of the original investigation in which the girl's mother was arrested and imprisoned for the murder of her daughter.

The story had me hooked from the beginning and I really liked the way the author gave a cast list and their roles. I didn't bother with this as I am new to the series. But, when I have read books in the past that have a cast list I find it incredibly helpful.

Fawley is joining the case with the recently discovered body as well as looking into the old case, this could cause upset as he is effectively running an investigation on someone else's turf. While this is mentioned, the professional attitude of those involved is brought to the front, but it was nice to see some expected anticipation.

Working with a mix of new and old staff, Fawley is soon in the midst of things. Several characters are introduced and the reason why the story of the 8-year-old has become to the forefront of a true crime show. There is also a character in this story that is an anonymous one, this one gives you chills as their account of things is told within a diary. The mixed media in this involves images, diary entries, and emails and as I mentioned at the start I do like this.

There are many things I want to mention about his story and I have rewritten a couple of these paragraphs but then deleted them as I think it will give things away. There is a lot of subterfuge, second guessing and twists. When you think you have your head around things, the author knocks the wind out of your sails and then you off on a different tangent.

I really enjoyed this, and while it is an advantage to have read previous books in the series, especially as the first book deals with the death and investigation of the dead 8-year-old!

This is one for fans of crime, thriller, police procedural and psychological thrillers. I enjoyed the twisted nature and the suspense that built up as well as the story line itself. It is one I would definitely recommend.

I was very excited to get an ARC of this after binge reading the first six in the series in the last week, and it did not disappoint. I’ve really enjoyed the Fawley series so far, with its city of twists and turns. The return of the Daisy mystery was interesting, as was catching up on where the characters had got up to in the last few years. Highly recommend the series.

4.5 Stars

Close to Home was the first in this excellent series and, after being a huge fan since, I was excited to revisit the Daisy Mason case in Making a Killing!

Catching up with the team 6 years on, quite a bit has changed, but the handy recap for each character before the story starts really helps to refresh your memory. Then, using the usual methods of mixed media, the story unfolded well and although it felt a little bit more slow-burn than usual, it was a great read.

It probably could be read as a standalone, but I recommend the entire series if you like police procedurals!

Wow! *What* a book! This is the first Cara Hunter book I've read - unorthodox considering it's the 7th in the Fawley series - but it's safe to say I'm hooked and will be reading more ASAP. It was @bethreadscrime's excellent review that put this on my radar - I'd actually bought the first book in the series to start there, but when my request was approved on Netgalley, obviously I had to jump in here straight away.

Honestly, I loved it- it may only be January but it's definitely one of my favourites of 2025, and it will be hard to beat. Despite it being so late in a series it's a good starting point: it's picking back up with DCI Fawley and his team some years after the last book, so nothing felt hard to follow. The case they're working on is a blast from the past: it seems a young girl thought to have been murdered eight years ago is actually alive, and the course of the book follows the case as it unfolds.

What's particularly neat here is how Hunter presents the story. It isn't told from a single viewpoint and it's not purely prose: there are emails, newspaper cuttings, interview transcripts and more, making it feel real and immersive. Not enough books do this in my opinion!

Thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this one, and if you enjoy police procedurals, detective mysteries and even true crime, I think you'll love it.

This is an ‘it’s not all as it seems’ type thriller. I wasn’t sure I fully believed all the characters but it was still a tense and enjoyable read. Left you hanging at the end so there must be more to come!

Another fabulous read in this series. A fantastic twisty story line which had me gripped throughout. I look forward to reading more

I love Cara’s books; so cleverly plotted with great characters and innovative style.This was no exception: a sequel to the first DCI Fawley novel written six years ago. Daisy Mason’s body was never discovered but there was enough evidence to convict her mother who is in prison.
However Daisy’s DNA is found on another dead body and she is obviously still alive. This is a great story as a huge effort is needed to get a result, all aided by newspaper articles and other media inserts as well as normal police work. Fascinating and very enjoyable. A welcome addition to the DCI Fawley books.

great police procedural book including mixed media of newspaper reports, pictures and emails to really bring the case to life!

This was a really gripping read, and the further I got into the book the more I enjoyed it!! Full of unexpected twists!

Despite this being part of a series, I still understood the characters thanks to the helpful character personality summaries at the start of the book.

There were a lot of police characters to follow, however each chapter being headlined with a location definitely made this easier to figure out what was going on
8 year old Daisy vanished from her family home, and the disappearance made national news.

Her mother arrested for her murder, despite a body never being found but strong forensic evidence.

Several years later, a strand of Daisy's hair is found at a crime scene, reopening the investigation into what happened to Daisy all those years ago... Could she still be alive?

Tropes include:
Dark past
Deception
Disappearance
Family trauma
Missing person
Murder
Plot twist
Police investigation
Police procedural
Revenge
Secrets
Suspense
Small town secrets
Tension
Therapy
Trauma
Whodunnit

Perfect for those who enjoy:
- Cold cases
- Witchcraft
- DCI Fawley series
- Missing people storylines
- Sequels

With thanks to HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction | Hemlock Press and Netgalley for an ARC copy in return for an honest review.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. I initially tried to read this on my Kindle, but some of the print was far too small to read comfortably and other graphics were only partially reproduced. I assume this will be fixed before publication.

I have read each of the instalments in this series, so I was familiar with the plot of the first book where the disappearance of eight-year old Daisy is investigated and her murderer prosecuted. Here it is discovered (eight years later) that she isn't dead at all and (bizarrely) Fawley and the original team are asked to reinvestigate. Daisy's DNA is discovered while a separate force are looking for a missing teenager and so there are in total far too many police officers to keep straight.

This wasn't quite such a page turner as the other books in this series; the sections from Daisy's shadow journal really slowed things down for me. I found Daisy to have been an unbelievably precocious eight year old, and I'm not a fan of ambiguous endings, but on the other hand I enjoyed some of the characterization, especially Quinn, who just never changes.

‘Making a Killing’ is the latest in the DCI Adam Fawley series and, intriguingly, takes us back to Cara Hunter’s first novel when eight year old Daisy Mason goes missing from affluent north Oxford and is never found. Her mother is convicted of her murder. The End!

However, Hunter has made the decision to develop this narrative further and, eight years later, it appears that Daisy has not died. Extraordinarily, her DNA is found on another woman’s corpse in a shallow grave. Is Daisy really still alive and, if so, how has she survived unnoticed well into her teens?

You don’t have to have read the original novel, ‘Murder in the Family’ to become invested in this story but I am sure that those who haven’t are likely to search it out after reading this sequel. Hunter has successful dealt with an obvious narrative problem – how does the reader hear Daisy’s voice throughout the story without the revelation of where she is and with whom? The answer is the inclusion of a Jungian ‘shadow diary’ in which Daisy appears to be experimenting with a self-help form of psychoanalysis.

Whilst this story has Daisy at its centre, there is the issue of why someone has been buried wearing a makeshift scold’s bridle and where another woman connected to Daisy has disappeared to. Fawley and his team combine with police in Gloucestershire to try to put together the pieces of widely scattered puzzle.

Hunter regularly uses mixed media in her narratives which adds credibility to aspects of the story. However, beware if reading as an e-book; it can be very frustrating. Another satisfying read and the final pages suggest that Adam may be looking over his shoulder for some time to come!

My thanks to NetGalley and HarperFiction, Hemlock Press for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.