Stevie‘s review of Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter
Contemporary Crime Novel published by William Morrow Paperbacks 19 Sep 23
One aspect of Cara Hunter’s Adam Fawley books that I really like is the way that extracts from different types of media are inserted into the narrative to give readers access to pieces of evidence and opinion that the viewpoint characters can’t see at that point in the story. This stand-alone story from the same author goes one step further and dispenses with traditional prose narrative altogether, something I didn’t know when I came to it fresh from reading the blurb. The book opens with a newspaper cutting from The Times reviewing the final episode of a TV series, the day after its first streaming, and then skips back to the original press release from the beginning of the year, announcing the show and introducing the individuals who will feature in it.
‘Infamous’ is an established true crime show that is going one step further in its latest season, by adding a reality element to the investigation. The show’s director was ten when his stepfather was brutally murdered, and twenty years later a panel of experts are being brought to his former home – now owned by his half-brother and watched over by one of his sisters from an annex – to reopen the case, albeit with no official police input. At first glance, the investigative team seems to have a balanced range of skills, consisting of two retired police detectives (one UK and one US), a freelance journalist who reported on the original police investigation, a high-profile lawyer, and two forensics experts from very different fields. As the story progresses, however, it seems that each of them has a direct link to either the victim or to other members of his household.
The story is told through the shooting scripts/transcripts from each episode intercut with newspaper cuttings (including more episode reviews from The Times for each episode), text messages between Guy’s sisters, threads from a true crime message board, and emails between the investigators and other witnesses or suspects. Slowly the characters and readers learn that the victim was not who he had claimed to be and that every individual involved in either the case or the show is hiding secrets of their own. By the very end, I had a pretty good idea who the killer was, but some of the final twists still surprised me.
Oh, and there’s a fun Easter Egg in one of the newspaper cuttings for fans of the Adam Fawley books who’ve been following what’s going to happen with that later in the year.
All in all, a really fun read that I need to study in more depth, once I get my hands on a print copy.
Grade: A
Summary:
EIGHT EPISODES. ONE KILLER.
It was a case that gripped the nation. In December 2003, Luke Ryder, the stepfather of acclaimed filmmaker Guy Howard (then aged 10), was found dead in the garden of their suburban family home.
Luke Ryder’s murder has never been solved. Guy Howard’s mother and two half-sisters were in the house at the time of the murder—but all swear they saw nothing. Despite a high-profile police investigation and endless media attention, no suspect was ever charged.
But some murder cases are simply too big to forget…
Now comes the sensational new streaming series Infamous, dedicated to investigating—and perhaps cracking—this famous cold case. The production team will re-examine testimony, re-interview witnesses, and once again scour the evidence. The family will speak. The key players will be reunited—on camera. The truth will come out.
Are you ready to see it?
No excerpt available.
