This author never disappoints.

A well written edge of your seat thriller. A DNA test takes you through the most horrific thing ever. Could you be related to a serial killer? When your blood type matches look out.

This book keeps you hooked all the way through. You won't want to put it down.

Thank you #netgalley, #GythaLodge, #RandomHouse for this arc.

High 4⭐️
Another satisfying mystery thriller that I throughly enjoyed. It was book 5 of the DCI Jonah Sheens series. It completely stands alone for a great novel. The writing held me captive and every situation and every person had something to hide. Who was doing this?!! And why? Fast paced and good.
Gytha Lodge is one of my favorite writers and I really enjoyed this. I highly recommend this one.
Thanks Random House Publishing via NetGalley.

Of all of the results you could possibly dream of when you submit your DNA to a site looking for family, an active serial killer is NO ONE'S list! But as lucky as she isn't, Ainsling Cooley has hit the father of the year jackpot....NOT!

The story line was great, this series is pretty darn good and Gytha Lodge does a good job of keeping the characters invested in saving the day by quickly catching the bad guys. This is book #5 in the series and the others are good reads too. Treat yourself to a binge read.

A Killer in the Family had one of the most intricate plots I've seen in a while. It's a lesson in DNA analysis and genealogy and how DNA matches can reveal your family tree. Sometimes that's good, and sometimes that's very bad!

For Aisling Cooley, there are just too many coincidences and secrets both past and present. So when a serial killer is linked to her through a blood match, she's clueless about how that happened. She knows her sons have been brought up to be gentlemen and the only other male blood match is her missing father....and her memories of him are of a kind and gentle man. So how did a close match DNA get on one of the crime scenes.

There is some relentless policework, but Aisling is scrappy and determined to prove her sons innocent. Lodge got the tone of the teenage boys just right, and the banter between Aisling and her sons is heartwarming. Add to the mix DC Juliette Hanson who someone is watching at each crime scene - could it be the killer?

Gytha Lodge has written a tight story with so many twists and turns you won't see coming!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing me with an advance reader's copy.

Such a fascinating premise for a book - using familial DNA to find a killer, especially a serial murderer. The pyres and inclusion of a mare was gruesome indeed. Having not read a prior book in this series did not affect my enjoyment of this read. I did enjoy getting to know the detectives working together. At times I have to admit that they seemed to miss important leads though.
Aisling, a divorced mother with two sons, 17 and 19, decides to use her dna to track down her estranged father who she has not seen in many many years. The Dna is used to target either her dad or one of her sons as a serial murderer operating locally. As the story unfolded I found myself questioning what I would do if I were in Aisling’s shoes. Great strategy that fully engaged me.
There were many characters that at times were difficult to keep straight. I found myself trying to reread trying to figure things out. At times the story sped along and at other times it was very slow moving. The tension buildup about 3/4ths of the way through was perfection. I did read this during a long day of jury selection and some of my disconnect could have been due to the numerous interruptions during that process. I know my neighbors close by heard a few gasps from me as I reached the tension buildup.
Many many thanks to Gytha Lodge, Random House, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an arc of this just published book.

Aisling Cooley isn't paying attention to the bodies left at bonfires. She has two teenage sons and planned to find the father that left when she was a teenager in Ireland. She submitted her DNA to an ancestry website, hoping to find her father. Instead, a detective shows up saying her DNA is a close match to the bonfire killer.

This is the fifth Jonah Sheens detective novel. It's all right if you haven't read the prior ones, as it just gives a link regarding the detectives' private lives. The focus is more on Aisling, her sons, and the red herrings along the way as the police try to zero in on a killer related to Aisling. We get to see the investigation and all the avenues they take in tracking Aisling's sons and hunting down her father. Eventually, the events of Aisling's past come out completely, and we see the ties she has with the other families involved. The ties become clearer as the novel progresses, and it is fascinating to see how that all came together. Your guesses change as new information is revealed, and it's a race to the finish in the final third of the novel. I simply couldn't put the book down and had to see how it ended.

A Killer in the Family by Gytha Lodge is a highly recommended murder mystery/procedural and the fifth book in the series featuring Detective Chief Inspector Jonah Sheens.

In Southampton, England, the "Bonfire Killer" has struck again. Three months earlier his first victim was burned beyond recognition. The latest victim did not burn. Even more hopeful for the investigation is that blood was found at the scene. In the meantime, Aisling Cooley, single mom to two teenage boys, decides to upload her DNA to an ancestry website in a search for her father who left his family 30 years earlier. What she has is DCI Jonah Sheens contact her because her DNA is a close match with that of the Bonfire Killer, who apparently is a close relative of hers.

This is another well written novel by Lodge. After a attention grabbing opening, the beginning moves at an even pace until all the pieces are set into place and then A Killer in the Family takes off, racing against time. The plot is interesting, compelling, and realistic while also providing plenty of twists along the way. Although it is the fifth book in the series, this solid procedural works well as a stand alone novel too. The characters are all fully realized and realistic. A Killer in the Family is another excellent novel by Lodge.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Random House via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Edelweiss, and Amazon.

It Is a really interesting plot and the plot twist were so good but it could have been written a little better. The characters were a little bland tbh.

To start, I wasn't aware that this book was part of a series before diving in. It would have been helpful if this information had been listed on the front cover or side spine. Nonetheless, I found the premise of this police procedural to be quite unique, and I think it would be an excellent choice for book club discussions on privacy concerns.

However, I found the execution to be quite problematic. It shared some of the same issues as Watching from the Dark, which I also gave three stars.

Overall enjoyable, not my favourite from the author

The front cover is amazing and is what drew me to this book in the first place.

A Killer in the Family is the fifth book in this series, but it can be read as a stand-alone. I only read the first in this series and now this one so now I need to go back and read the others.

There's a serial killer in the area being called the bonfire killer as he takes his victims and builds a bonfire to burn their bodies. At the latest bonfire site, blood is found, which gives the police DNA to submit. When a match isn’t found in the system, the DNA is uploaded to an ancestry site to find the closest relative.

Across town, a single mom Aisling, has recently sent in her DNA to an ancestry site in hopes of finding her father that abandoned her family long ago. Aisling never anticipated that investigators will show up at her door to inform her that the blood found at the latest crime scene is a close match to her DNA, meaning a male related to her is responsible. This can only mean that one of her sons or her long lost father is this notorious Bonfire Killer.

There were so many clever twist in this book and I was completely invested in getting to the bottom of this mystery. I definitely recommend checking out this series and look forward to reading books 2, 3 and 4. A Killer in the Family was published on 8/8/23. Thank you Netgalley for this advanced reading copy.

I received this book for free in exchange for a review.

This was my first book out of the DCI Jonah Sheens collection. I didn’t know the book was a part of a collection before I received the download. At first I was worried that I would need context for the story from the previous books, but I was glad to find out that wasn’t necessarily true.

Overall, I would rate this book a 3. It has a really interesting start that keeps you hooked but towards the middle I felt it dragged a bit. Would I read another DCI Jonah Sheens collection book? Potentially. It was an easy read, though there may have been a few too many characters and side stories to keep track of. It had a few interesting twists but it might have been one too many for me,

To be honest, this - the fifth book in a series featuring Detective Chief Inspector Jonah Sheens - just didn't grab me. I'm pretty sure much of that comes because it's the first in the series that I've read, and what background was included wasn't sufficient for me to be able to really "connect" with any of the characters. That the story was very complex, with quite a few people to keep track of, made it even harder to process.

That said, once I got the lay of the land, so to speak - with burning pyres topped by women murdered by what appears to be a serial killer - the story itself kept me turning the pages (well, okay, thumbing the edge of my e-book reader). Before I get to the murders, though, I'll mention that the aforementioned Jonah is experiencing some kind of marital upset; that, too, most likely was an issue in a previous book or books. But here, too, there wasn't enough explanation for me to say, "Jonah, you're an idiot - grow up!" or sympathize with what he's going through.

The murders, though, are the primary focus. Finally, detectives catch a break when human blood is found at a partially burned pyre and it doesn't belong to the victim. At that point, they decide to try a new-to-them DNA search to identify the owner - or very close relatives of - the killer. About the same time, local resident and single mother Aisling Cooley sends her DNA to an ancestry website in hopes of finding the father who left with no warning when she was a teenager some 30 years earlier. She gets more than she bargained for when the police come to say that she's a close relative of the so-called "Bonfire Killer." But the only relatives she knows about are her father - who may not even be alive - and her two mostly-grown sons. Could one of them possibly be a murderer?

The rest of the book follows the complex investigation, with leads that turn out to be dead ends even though they have a DNA link. The ending didn't thrill me because I'm not a fan of cliffhangers - and there are two gobsmackers here. I'm pretty sure most fans of this series will enjoy this one, though, and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to become one by way of a pre-release review copy.

After gritting my teeth through the prologue I thought this would get better but no. Maybe I would have been more committed to the story if I'd read some of the previous books in the series.

This was such a great book! I couldn't put it down! I'm fascinated with the technology of solving crimes with family DNA and that was really interesting in this book. I didn't realize this book was part of a series, but didn't need to read the previous books to read this one. I will definitely be checking out the previous books and be looking for the next book@

This book was crazyyyyyy. Literally from the first chapter I thought I new what was happening and I was swiftly wrong. The plot twist that happened in this book never stopped. I never knew what was coming next. So glad that I got the opportunity to read this book.

I look forward to each book by Gytha Lodge that features DCI Jonah Sheen and his team. The author does a masterful job of developing her characters, fleshing each one out completely and giving me a reason to relate to them and like them. The story itself is a well-written police procedural and whodunit, with plenty of relevant details and a lot of brilliant deductions among the team members. I thought that the pace was perfect and written with the signature style of the author that reveals the details of the case methodically and compellingly. I really liked getting to know each of Jonah’s team members better, but the book was a winner with me because of the tightly written plot. There seems to be a serial killer on the loose, dubbed the “Bonfire Killer” since he lays his victims on a pyre. There is also a hapless single mom as a major character when her DNA seems to be a familial match for the serial killer. Aisley Cooley has some secrets but she didn’t realize that one of them could endanger her and her sons. I thought that the writing style was nothing short of brilliant, with short chapters and clues given periodically throughout, along with the killer lurking in the background, just out of sight of the police. This is an edgy suspense that crackles with tension and that kept me reading as I tried unsuccessfully to guess the identity of the man targeting middle aged women and killing them in such a brutal way. I liked that the team was relentless in their pursuit of the perpetrator even as he continued to slip away from them stealthily time after time. I particularly enjoyed the clever way the author left bread crumbs and red herrings, capturing my imagination and the way that the characters were all richly portrayed with meaningful lives away from their jobs. This is a police procedural without equal, one that had me stymied and cheering on the team of investigators as they closed in on the killer.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16th CFR, Part 255, “Guidelines Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

This is book 5/5 in a series but I read it without reading the others first and it was a great read! Right from the start it pulls you into the search for the “bonfire killer” and had me questioning everyone. Definitely a book with lots of twists and turns that keep you turning the page!

Thanks to Netgalley for this advanced reader copy, I voluntarily read and reviewed this book!

This book is quite interesting no, but it does take time to build up to the suspense which if you’re not willing to sit, there could make it difficult, but it is worth it and I would recommend this book but because of being so slow paced, I definitely struggled to continue my interest but I’m glad that I continued because it took me on a nice wild ride.

Lodge has written a fast paced, tense, realistic police procedural. She threw in enough red herrings that I had no idea how this would play out. And I thought the way Lodge wrote the resolution was perfect.
Her characters are real - not just the police team but the pool of suspects.
Heads up, for those of you that don't like cliffhangers, this one ends with a doozy.
This is one series I believe is best read in order. The books focus on the private lives of each of the team and reading them out of order will cause both spoilers and some lost context.

North American publication date 08 August 2023!
This story is as twisty as a double helix 🧬 which is fitting since it has everything to do with DNA evidence!
Jumping on the genealogy craze, Gytha Lodge takes us on a rollercoaster of a ride where the evidence doesn’t lie no matter how much it seems like it does!
Aisling is a struggling single mother of two boys in their late teens. She’s not on good terms with her ex, and her father disappeared from her life when she was a teenager. On a whim, she uploads her DNA in hopes of finding her father. But Aisling’s DNA will give her more questions than answers when the police show up on her door and let her know her genetic profile has led them to her house.
The bonfire killer might be one of her sons!! Aisling can’t believe it’s true, but who else could it be?
We also see the return of DCI Jonah Sheens and his crew. This might be the last book you can read as a stand-alone, that’s all I’m saying!
Another great thriller from Gytha Lodge and I can’t wait for the sixth book! I loved it!!
Thanks to @netgalley, Random House Canada and the author for an eArc in exchange for my honest opinion!