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WORK TITLE: Sweet Little Lies
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Coventry
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: British
http://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/arts-books/fiction-books/best-debut-novels-2017-women-writers-a7930346.html
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Female.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Caz Frear is a British writer. She studied history and politics and lived in London for more than a decade. Frear dreamed of becoming a writer while living in London. However, it was not until she returned to Coventry that she published her first book.
Frear published her debut novel, Sweet Little Lies, in 2018. Maryanne Doyle went missing in 1998. In 2016 Detective Cat Kinsella investigates the murder of a young girl linked to Maryanne near her father’s pub. Cat realizes that her father had lied to the police about Maryanne’s death. So the location of this new victim so close to him worries her immensely.
Talking with Elise Cooper in an interview on the Crimespree website, Frear admitted that she chose this genre because she loves “reading police procedurals. I wanted to write one from the perspective of a young female detective. Then there was this huge story in the news about young girls needing to come to the UK from Ireland. I thought how friends and family would not know where they were and they would not know the huge city of London.” In the same Crimespree interview, Frear also mentioned that she has never had any prior experience with the police. She conceded, though, that “a friend put me in touch with a great police officer who has been invaluable. He keeps me on the straight and narrow when it comes to procedure.”
A contributor to Kirkus Reviews opined that “the solution to the mystery is a legitimate surprise, and Cat’s evolution from one-dimensional sad sack to complex, honest adult is both believable and welcome.” The same reviewer found the novel to be “a truly satisfying–and gritty–mystery.” A Publishers Weekly contributor suggested that “readers will root for the spiky Kinsella, with her empathetic center, and hope to see more of her in future books.” In a review in Library Journal, Natalie Browning commented that “admirers of the police procedurals of Tana French … will welcome Frear’s dramatic debut.” A contributor to the CBTB blog stated: “Given its complexity of plot, it will come as no surprise to readers that Sweet Little Lies is a slower-burning read; this isn’t the kind of book I found myself wanting to binge-read, but I was completely absorbed in the story, too. There were a few moments in the middle portion of this book that seemed to drag just a little bit, but they hardly detracted from my reading experience—and the detail Frear put into her plotting enhanced the story’s ultimate conclusion very effectively.” The same reviewer noted that “with Cat Kinsella as the central investigator piecing together her own past with the murder that her team is tasked with solving, Sweet Little Lies is the kind of ‘modern classic’ the genre didn’t even know it was missing. It’s truly the best of both worlds.”
A contributor to the Rhapsody in Books blog reasoned that “the range and depth of the character portrayals are impressive. Frear also adeptly creates an atmosphere and mood as palpably as a movie might do, so that you feel as if you are experiencing all that Cat does right along with her.” Writing on the Crime Review website, Linda Wilson lauded that “Frear has produced a confident and accomplished debut, mixing police procedural and domestic noir to good effect and building up a cast of strong characters to carry an intriguing plot that turns into one of the best murder stories I’ve read for a long time.” A contributor to the Bibliophile Book Club website noted that this “interesting tale … deals well in showing how relationships and secrets can destroy lives.” In a review on the Crimespree website, Kristin Centorcelli remarked that “Frear has churned out a very assured, accomplished debut that’s quintessentially British and compulsively readable. So if you like British procedurals mixed with dysfunctional family drama, this one’s for you, although Cat makes it so very unique. This isn’t just a murder mystery (with quite the shocking twist, I might add), it’s also Cat’s coming of age.” Centorcelli concluded: “I really can’t say enough good things about this one, so you’ll just have to add it to your must-read list and find out what I’m gushing about.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 2018, review of Sweet Little Lies.
Library Journal, July 1, 2018, Natalie Browning, review of Sweet Little Lies, p. 55.
Publishers Weekly, June 25, 2018, review of Sweet Little Lies, p. 162.
ONLINE
Bibliophile Book Club, https://bibliophilebookclub.com/ (July 19, 2017), review of Sweet Little Lies.
CBTB blog, http://crimebythebook.com/ (September 11, 2018), review of Sweet Little Lies.
Crime Review, http://crimereview.co.uk/ (November 25, 2017), Linda Wilson, review of Sweet Little Lies.
Crimespree, http://crimespreemag.com/ (August 16, 2018), Kristin Centorcelli, review of Sweet Little Lies; (August 30, 2018), Elise Cooper, author interview.
Rhapsody in Books blog, https://rhapsodyinbooks.wordpress.com/ (August 27, 2018), review of Sweet Little Lies.
Caz Frear grew up in Coventry, England, and spent her teenage years dreaming of moving to London and writing a novel. After fulfilling her first dream, it wasn't until she moved back to Coventry thirteen years later that the writing dream finally came true. She has a degree in history and politics, and when she's not agonizing over snappy dialogue or incisive prose, can be found shouting at Arsenal football matches or holding court in the pub on topics she knows nothing about. Sweet Little Lies is her first novel.
INTERVIEW WITH CAZ FREAR
Posted by Elise Cooper on Aug 30, 2018 in Books, Features, Interviews
SWEET LITTLE LIES by Caz Frear is a police procedural that overlaps with the psychological thriller genre. This story follows Met detective Cat Kinsella who is investigating why and how Alice’s body is found close to her father’s pub.
Cat’s troubled past comes into play as it becomes obvious that Alice was murdered and it is related to another woman vanishing eighteen years earlier. She wonders if her dad had something to do with Maryanne’s disappearance? Memories flood Cat, as a child of eight on a vacation in Ireland, she had to deal with why Maryanne had gone missing and her dad’s denial of ever knowing the seventeen-year-old girl, creating tension between Cat and her father. She is wondering if her father could have murdered both Maryanne and Alice. Through her investigation she confronts secrets about the women, her father, and her family life.
This debut novel delves into dark family secrets full of lies and revelations. It is interesting how Frear combines the two genres to write a gripping story.
Elise Cooper: Why this genre?
Caz Frear: I loving reading police procedurals. I wanted to write one from the perspective of a young female detective. Then there was this huge story in the news about young girls needing to come to the UK from Ireland. I thought how friends and family would not know where they were and they would not know the huge city of London.
EC: Did you have any police experience?
CF: No – never! However, a friend put me in touch with a great police officer who has been invaluable. He keeps me on the straight and narrow when it comes to procedure. I wouldn’t say I’m an absolute slave to accuracy when it comes to procedure, but when writing a page-turner, I simply can’t wait a week to get a DNA test result back. But it does need to feel authentic.
EC: Surrounding Cat is a team of detectives?
CF: I hope they come to life. I did not want to write the team as dysfunctional, either having sexism, competition, or inappropriate behavior. I wanted to show them as a family of sorts where the only arguments are who makes the tea or steals someone’s biscuits. Cat has them fulfill her needs because her family never has.
EC: How would you describe Cat?
CF: I hope readers are invested in her. I know I am attached to her. Cat is flawed, a bit overweight, and down on herself. I do not consider her a Superhero, but just a detective trying to do her job. I’d describe Cat as an everywoman. She has some really big issues that she’s dealing with but she tries to get along with people and she wants to be liked as well as respected. There’s an element of her that is still that eight-year-old girl in Ireland who has just found out that the world isn’t a safe place.
EC: Did the setting play a role in the book?
CF: London is a huge, busy, self-absorbed city where everybody goes about doing their own thing. Nobody is really looking at what the person next to them is doing. A person can easily lose themselves.
EC: How would describe the supervising officer, Steele?
CF: I think she has a maternal feeling for Cat. She is level-headed. Being in her sixties she has chosen her job as her life.
EC: Did you base her on Supervisor Jane Tennison played by Helen Mirren in the show “Prime Suspect?”
CF: No, not directly. Her personality is actually based on someone I used to work for years ago who was tiny, very dainty and feminine, but the toughest boss I ever had. Everyone loved her but they were slightly terrified of her. That said, Tennison is my all-time favorite detective and there are definitely elements of her in Steele: the toughness, the ease with which she manages within a predominantly male environment. I would say Steele is a bit softer than Tennison though, less prickly, not as obsessed with her proving herself. Steele knows she’s earned her stripes and doesn’t need to prove herself to anyone whereas I think Tennison thrived on confrontation and competition.
EC: You have the food of choice, Pop Tarts?
CF: I think that might have been in my sub-conscious. They made their way to our shores when I was nine or ten. We weren’t allowed them that often, but considered it a treat when we ate them.
EC: Why the Tinkerbell pendent?
CF: I wanted to have a Disney item that a girl could be fixated on. I bought myself one when I got the book deal and now think of it as a good omen.
EC: Your next book?
CF: Book two still doesn’t have a name and I’m not quite sure on publication dates yet (2019 probably). It’s the same team of detectives investigating a brand-new case but the events of SWEET LITTLE LIES are still casting their shadow over Cat’s life. The plot focuses on a husband and wife. The husband is arrested for the murder of a young woman but he claims he is being framed and suspicion falls heavily on his wife. Who is telling the truth?
THANK YOU!!
Frear, Caz: SWEET LITTLE LIES
Kirkus Reviews. (June 1, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Frear, Caz SWEET LITTLE LIES Harper/HarperCollins (Adult Fiction) $26.99 8, 14 ISBN: 978-0-06-282319-9
When a young London detective delves into the life of a murder victim, she finds out that the woman may have deep connections to her own family's past in Frear's debut.
Cat Kinsella remembers the summer she spent as a child in Mulderrin, Ireland, because it was then that glamorous Maryanne Doyle went missing. Cat has always suspected that her father, a charming ne'er-do-well who owns a pub and has connections to organized crime, may have played a sinister role in Maryanne's disappearance, but she's never been able to prove anything. The tension has poisoned her relationships with both her father and her sister, and as Christmas approaches, and she pulls a new murder case, she looks for ways to avoid confronting her past. She's already in department-mandated therapy, mostly for "over-empathizing" with murder victims, and while she gets on well with her partner, Luigi Parnell, and the rest of the squad, her personal life seems a mess. As Cat and Parnell investigate Alice Lapaine's death, however, they quickly discover that she is not who they thought she was, and as they unearth level after level of deception and lies, Cat begins to fear that her own secrets may be exposed as well. Though the book begins in medias res in terms of Cat's life and her memories, it's a bit slow to start. Cat is somewhat prickly, which makes her hard to get to know, but as the investigation and the story wind on, she earns our sympathy and our trust because we can see that, while flawed, she acts for the victims, and she struggles with the conflict she feels for her own family. The solution to the mystery is a legitimate surprise, and Cat's evolution from one-dimensional sad sack to complex, honest adult is both believable and welcome, putting her on par with Susie Steiner's and Tana French's female detectives.
A truly satisfying--and gritty--mystery.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Frear, Caz: SWEET LITTLE LIES." Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A540723433/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=08b16cbb. Accessed 22 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A540723433
Sweet Little Lies
Publishers Weekly. 265.26 (June 25, 2018): p162.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* Sweet Little Lies
Caz Frear. Harper, $26.99 (352p) ISBN 978-0-06-282319-9
D et. Constable Cat Kinsella, the heroine of British author Frear's taut, psychologically twisted debut, always suspected that her father, Michael McBride, knew more than he let on about the disappearance of Maryanne Doyle, a teenager who went missing in 1998 when eight-year-old Kinsella and her family were on vacation in Mulderrin, Ireland. For one thing, Michael, a serial adulterer, was seen with Maryanne but later lied to the police about having had any contact with her. In 2016, Alice Lapaine, a part-time pub chef, is found murdered near the London pub frequented by Kinsella's father. While working the case, Kinsella and her partner, Det. Sgt. Luigi Parnell, draw a frustrating blank around Alice's life, and even her less-than-forthcoming husband, Thomas, is a weak suspect at best, until a routine DNA test reveals startling connections to the Doyle investigation. Kinsella knows she must tread carefully with this new information and decide how much, if any, of her own sordid family history she wants to make public. As the case takes its own twists and unexpected turns, just as fascinating are the mental gymnastics that Kinsella performs in an effort to keep her personal and professional lives from colliding. Readers will root for the spiky Kinsella, with her empathetic center, and hope to see more of her in future books. Agent: Erin Kelly, Curtis Brown (U.K.). (Aug.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Sweet Little Lies." Publishers Weekly, 25 June 2018, p. 162. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A545023391/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=3335ab6c. Accessed 22 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A545023391
The Thrill of the Lie
Library Journal. 143.12 (July 2018): p55.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
Frear, Caz. Sweet Little Lies.
Harper. Aug. 2018.352p.
ISBN 9780062823199.
$26.99; ebk. ISBN
9780062823281.
THRILLER
DEBUT The past collides with the present in Frear's first mystery. In 1998, Maryanne Doyle went missing; 18 years later, Det. Cat Kinsella is still haunted by her own family's possible involvement in the case. Her dad knew Maryanne but had lied to the police. When Cat is called to a crime scene near her father's pub, it soon becomes apparent that the female murder victim is linked to Maryanne. Frear's witty yet dark writing pulls readers into Cat's ethical dilemma of whether to stay on the case. As she and her fellow detectives interview many witnesses, the author demonstrates her talent in fleshing out complicated personalities of even minor characters. VERDICT The details can get overwhelming at times, but readers should not overlook anything because secrets and lies come back with a vengeance, resulting in an intense page-turner. Admirers of the police procedurals of Tana French and the thrillers of Clare Mackintosh will welcome Frear's dramatic debut. [See Prepub Alert, 2/11/18.]--Natalie Browning, Longwood Univ. Lib., Farmville, VA
* Jackson, Lisa.
Liar, Liar. Kensington.
Jul. 2018. 416p. ISBN
9781617734670. $26; ebk. ISBN 9781617734700.
THRILLER
In the Mojave Desert, 15-year-old Remmi Storm observed her Vegas showgirl/celebrity impersonator mother,
Didi, exchanging money for one of her newborn twin half siblings. The next day, her mother and other sibling disappeared without a trace--until 20 years later when Remmi witnesses a woman who resembles her mother in full Marilyn Monroe regalia leap to her death from a San Francisco building. Could the recently published tell-all book about Didi's life and the mystery surrounding her disappearance be connected? A shaken Remmi, convinced that the victim isn't her mother, heads to the SFPD to talk to the detectives in charge of the case, unaware of the Pandora's box that just opened. Jackson's (One Last Breath) latest offering is a fabulous fast-paced, tightly plotted thriller with so many twisty angles, no Vegas bookie would make odds. The character development is superb, and the police investigation and Remmi's need for answers ring true. The author's managing of the past and present separately is an effective method of clue dangling to keep readers in the dark until the huge OMG reveal. VERDICT Fans of Lisa Gardner, Paula Hawkins, and J.T. Ellison will devour this one-sitting nail-biter.--Debbie Haupt, St. Charles City--Cty. Lib. Dist., St. Peters, Ml
Logan, T.M. Lies.
St. Martin's. Sept.
2018.432p. ISBN
9781250182265. $27.99; ebk. ISBN 9781250182289.
THRILLER
DEBUT Joe Lynch is a mild-mannered high school teacher, father, and husband living an average life. Then during an evening commute, he makes an innocent move that irrevocably alters his family. Joe's attempt to surprise his wife when his small son spots her in traffic leads him to a hotel where she is with her best friend's husband, Ben. An altercation ensues between the two men and Ben is accidentally knocked unconscious. Soon afterward, Ben is listed as a missing person and Joe becomes the prime suspect. Joe receives cryptic threats via texts and social media that promise to ruin him. As deceits within Joe's marriage escalate, he grapples with mounting criminal evidence pointing directly at him. Obsessing over locating Ben and exonerating himself, he struggles to distinguish the truth from lies before his life spirals completely out of control. VERDICT In a tensely woven eight-day cat-and-mouse chase, Logan's debut races readers through a fast-moving joyride of nerve-wracking suspense and intrigue that will challenge and surprise even the most devout enthusiasts of psychological thrillers. [See Prepub Alert, 3/26/18.]--Mary Todd Chesnut, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"The Thrill of the Lie." Library Journal, July 2018, p. 55. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A544877376/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=a65ca96b. Accessed 22 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A544877376
Book Review: SWEET LITTLE LIES by Caz Frear
September 11, 2018
SWEET LITTLE LIES by Caz Frear
Harper; 8/14/18
CBTB Rating: 4.5/5
The Verdict: an accomplished debut and must-read for procedural fans
There’s something about the tried-and-true police procedural that always keeps me coming back for more—and finding an author who can write a police procedural in as fresh, modern a way as can Caz Frear is a genuine treat. SWEET LITTLE LIES follows a female policewoman in London whose personal life collides with her work in a dark and dangerous way. Cat Kinsella is called to the scene of a crime: the body of a young woman has been found not far from the pub that her estranged father still runs. Things become stranger still when Cat receives a mysterious call linking this murder to the disappearance of a young woman in Ireland years prior—a young woman whom Cat and her family saw just days before she went missing. Cat had long suspected that her father knew more about the young woman’s disappearance than he admitted… and her latest work assignment will now give her a new opportunity to investigate her own past. SWEET LITTLE LIES is an astonishingly assured debut; Cat Kinsella is a fantastic protagonist, and readers will love the complexity and precision of plotting Caz Frear puts forth in this mystery. With her first suspense novel, Frear has established herself as an author to watch - I have no doubt we’ll be hearing of Frear’s work for years to come. Highly recommended for readers looking for a slow-burning, layered mystery that puts a fresh spin on classic police procedurals, and injects a male-dominated genre with a fiercely feminist protagonist.
Plot Summary:
Your father is a liar. But is he a killer?
Even liars tell the truth . . . sometimes.
Twenty-six-year-old Cat Kinsella overcame a troubled childhood to become a Detective Constable with the Metropolitan Police Force, but she’s never been able to banish these ghosts. When she’s called to the scene of a murder in Islington, not far from the pub her estranged father still runs, she discovers that Alice Lapaine, a young housewife who didn’t get out much, has been found strangled.
Cat and her team immediately suspect Alice’s husband, until she receives a mysterious phone call that links the victim to Maryanne Doyle, a teenage girl who went missing in Ireland eighteen years earlier. The call raises uneasy memories for Cat—her family met Maryanne while on holiday, right before she vanished. Though she was only a child, Cat knew that her charming but dissolute father wasn’t telling the truth when he denied knowing anything about Maryanne or her disappearance. Did her father do something to the teenage girl all those years ago? Could he have harmed Alice now? And how can you trust a liar even if he might be telling the truth?
Determined to close the two cases, Cat rushes headlong into the investigation, crossing ethical lines and trampling professional codes. But in looking into the past, she might not like what she finds. . . .
If there’s a perfect crossover between “trendy” and “classic” crime fiction, it might just be Caz Frear’s SWEET LITTLE LIES. You know those debut novels so expertly plotted, so vividly drawn, it’s hard to believe they’re actually debuts? Frear’s first crime novel falls under that category. SWEET LITTLE LIES is proof positive that the police procedural, in the right hands, will never go out of style. Take one look at this book’s gorgeous cover and you might think you’ve found your next favorite “trendy” suspense novel… but open the book’s pages and you’ll discover you’ve found something even more compelling. SWEET LITTLE LIES is a classic detective novel made modern; Frear writes with the confidence and precision of your favorite procedural writer, yet she injects her police novel with a sensibility that is very much of the book’s modern times. By blending her procedural with an exploration of family dynamics and secrets, Frear makes this blend effortless and totally accessible - readers will follow protagonist Cat Kinsella down the rabbit hole into her family’s dark past as quickly as they’ll follow her on her beat as a police officer in England. The result? A police procedural that is timely and timeless - as strong an example of classic procedural writing as it is a fresh, modern suspense story.
At the heart of Frear’s outstanding novel is Cat Kinsella, a young woman working in the police force in England. Cat is, in a word, relatable - and it’s her relatability that gives SWEET LITTLE LIES its edge against the competition. Now, I love a good “larger than life” detective as much as the next reader; there’s always something fun about those protagonists who seem infallible and almost superhuman in just how good they are at solving crimes, and when I’m in the mood for something escapist, those kinds of characters are such fun to read. But to read a character like Cat Kinsella is an altogether different experience, and it’s one that is arguably all the more meaningful because of how down-to-earth that character is. Cat is a complicated young woman: a dedicated police officer, a daughter, a sister, a woman grappling with her own insecurities, both personally and professionally. She’s complicated, yes, but she’s no more complicated than you or I, and that’s exactly why I loved her. As Cat grapples with the dynamics of her career in the police force, her anxieties about her family, her insecurities in her romantic life, and a whole lot more, readers will find so much of what she experiences a reflection of their own personal struggles. Granted, hopefully not too many of us reading SWEET LITTLE LIES will be harboring a long-held fear that someone in our family was involved in the disappearance of a young girl… but surely many of us can relate to the unique challenges of family, and the coming-of-age experience of realizing your parents have lives you might never have known about as a child. Cat is fiery, strong-willed, tough, fallible, insecure, lonely - she is so many things that we can all be, too, and that’s what made me love her so much.
And, of course, this wouldn’t be a police procedural if there weren’t a compelling mystery propelling this book forward, too. As Cat’s personal life collides with a case she is tasked with investigating, readers will find themselves drawn into the kind of layered, meticulous mystery that fills the pages of the best procedurals. Given its complexity of plot, it will come as no surprise to readers that SWEET LITTLE LIES is a slower-burning read; this isn’t the kind of book I found myself wanting to binge-read, but I was completely absorbed in the story, too. There were a few moments in the middle portion of this book that seemed to drag just a little bit, but they hardly detracted from my reading experience—and the detail Frear put into her plotting enhanced the story’s ultimate conclusion very effectively. Sometimes procedurals get a bad rap as being “stuffy”; if you’ve ever felt that way about a procedural before, you would do well to give SWEET LITTLE LIES a try - this book might just change your mind. Frear writes with the kind of precise attention to detail that I absolutely love about this category of crime novel - if you enjoy puzzling out a mystery alongside a team of investigators or detectives, you will feel right at home in the world she has crafted here. And with Cat Kinsella as the central investigator piecing together her own past with the murder that her team is tasked with solving, SWEET LITTLE LIES is the kind of “modern classic” the genre didn’t even know it was missing. It’s truly the best of both worlds: the family secrets and interpersonal tension of psychological suspense combine with the classic structure and pacing of police procedurals to deliver a thoroughly modern take on a classic category of crime fiction.
In short: SWEET LITTLE LIES is a stellar crime fiction debut by an author to watch. I’m already looking forward to reading the next book from Frear—I have no doubt she will be an author I’m enthusiastically reading for years to come.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. All opinions my own.
Review of “Sweet Little Lies” by Caz Frear
Posted on 08/27/2018
by rhapsodyinbooks
This novel is touted as being for fans of Tana French, and indeed, it has something of that author’s same style.
The story begins in December, 2016, right before Christmas. A body is found of a woman who reminds 26-year-old Met Detective Constable Catrina (“Cat”) Kinsella of a girl who went missing 18 years before when her family was vacationing for the summer in Ireland. No one ever found then 17-year-old Maryanne Doyle. But Cat always suspected her father had something to do with it, because when the police came, her dad – always a ladies man, lied about knowing Maryanne, leading Cat to suspect the worse.
The question of why Maryanne disappeared, Cat mused, was “the most significant question of my life.” Not even her dad knows why Cat turned on him after that summer. Before then, Cat was always a “daddy’s girl.” Afterwards, it all changed. She knew, unlike the rest of her family, that her problem with her dad was “not about Mum or forgiveness or sleazy affairs. . . . It’s about murder. It’s about the lie – the litany of lies – he told about Maryanne Doyle eighteen years ago . . . .”
She has been punishing him for it for all these years. She even changed her last name from McBride to her mother’s maiden name, Kinsella. To make things worse, the body that was just found was only steps away from her dad’s pub. Moreover, the dead woman turns out to have been connected to Maryanne Doyle. Cat knows she should recuse herself from the case, but she can’t; she has to know the truth.
And what would be more devastating, she wonders? Having spent the past eighteen years tormenting her dad and herself for a series of little white lies? Or having her worst suspicions finally confirmed?
Evaluation: This book combines an absorbing and well-crafted police procedural with an even more interesting drama about family secrets and detective force interactions. The depictions of the dysfunctional dynamics of Cat’s family and the pain it causes everyone are skillfully woven in and out of the murder plot. They are juxtaposed with the supportive relationships in Cat’s Murder Investigation Team, as all of them deal with the horrors of what they encounter on the job, in addition to whatever goes on in their home lives.
The range and depth of the character portrayals are impressive. Frear also adeptly creates an atmosphere and mood as palpably as a movie might do, so that you feel as if you are experiencing all that Cat does right along with her.
I was impressed with this author and look forward to more books from her.
Rating: 4/5
Published in the U.S. by Harper, 2018