Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Good Liar.

I've never read this author before so I went into this with an open mind.

This wasn't what I expected; the mystery is a side-note to the personal drama and trauma of Claudia O'Sheil, the blood spatter expert, who is still mourning the unexpected death of her husband.

Claudia is no Dexter Morgan; there's little suspense and urgency to the narrative.

The narrative is focused on the shameful antics and despicable behavior of the privileged elite, the backstabbing, the coverups of the wealthy and politically connected.

Claudia, unlike Dexter, is not likable; in fact I found it difficult to believe she was an expert in her field, and she's a mother.

She's incredibly naive, despite her desperate social climbing, erratic and immature. Perhaps its because her husband died under disturbing circumstances but she was not mentally well.

She's got a huge chip on her shoulder, like she's embarrassed to come from humble origins and has to help her sister, who is a recovering addict.

I actually liked her sister better; she seemed more well adjusted than Claudia.

The narrative opens with Claudia preparing to deliver a bombshell revelation that will destroy her career along with many others and the reputation of forensics.

The beginning is the ending and is dragged out for several chapters intertwined with flashbacks into how we arrived to the present.

It's a long, slow slog to understand where and how Claudia came to make the momentous decision she did.

The reason behind the murder and whodunit is revealed quietly nearly at the end of the narrative and not that much of a surprise.

I wasn't a fan of the author's writing style; it was summary-like with random info dumps of exposition.

This author isn't for me but I'm grateful I was given the opportunity to read The Good Liar.

Thank you to Mulholland Books for an early electronic copy via Netgalley. Opinions are my own.

This is my first Denise Mina book and won't be my last. I was transfixed by the idea of smart technology/science being the forefront of convictions and then finding out it was junk science after all. Careers are on the line and more importantly, the innocent are jailed as a result of technology used in determining guilt.

Claudia O'Sheil is a blood splatter expert and has created a program that can determine many things at the scene of a crime including possible guilt. It is when the The Incident at Chester Terrace, the horrific and brutal deaths of two of the upper crust, that the science is used for a conviction of the dead man's son. Problem is, the program was faulty. Junk Science. Moreover, the son is not well-liked, had a contentious relationship with his father, and many want his father's secrets buried along with the son's prison term.

Now a year later and much soul searching, Claudia is contemplating whether or not to tank her own career and ideas of the high life in a bid to clear her conscience. Told in alternating time frames, the reader gets chapters on what lead to the conviction and the cost of that conviction. An upcoming speech she has been hand-picked to deliver hangs in the balance. Does she tell the truth and lose her creature comforts and possibly safety of her family, or does she stay silent and continue to bask in the perks that keep coming her way for her continued silence.

Lest the reader think it's a slam dunk on which way things will go, know that Claudia likes rubbing elbows with the elite. She likes the fame, the career, the perks. And, things are getting dangerous.

The rambling was terrible - I ended up skimming the pages waiting for something interesting to happen. None of the characters seemed to like each other at all, and everyone kept saying “fuck” all the time. No thanks.

As this short, tense novel opens, Claudia Atkins O’Sheil is preparing to blow up her life. In twenty minutes she’s due to give a speech about her most famous case as a forensic scientist. But it’s not the speech her host and mentor, Sir Philip Ardmore, expects her to give. Rather than celebrate the way her ground-breaking system for analyzing blood spatter evidence solved the infamous Chester Terrace murders, she’s planning to explain how it got the case wrong. This will not only destroy her reputation and Sir Philip’s, it will call into question scores of convictions and will anger some very powerful people. She has to get the truth out in a way that people will find convincing, and she has to do it before she is stopped.

Flashback to a year earlier, to a gathering just a few months after her husband’s death in a car crash. As she’s fending off Kirsty Parry, an awkward upper-class acquaintance of her husband who is desperately looking for work in Claudia’s field, Sir Philip gets a phone call that unmoors him. He’s so rattled she agrees to drive him to the scene of a gruesome crime. Two people have been murdered in a Regent’s Park neighborhood on a street where the houses are worth tens of millions, many of them empty investment properties owned by secretive shell companies. Someone entered the house, killed their guard dog with a shotgun, and then attacked both occupants with a knife. The blood spatter is voluminous and even without running it through her software program, Claudia can read it like a book.

It falls to Sir Phil to identify the bodies, since the home belongs to a friend from school days. He worries the killer may have been the dead man’s son, the privileged party boy and addict Viscount William Stewart, who stands to inherit a title and properties that amount to half of Scotland. He was on bad terms with his father, and when he stumbles up to the house, he’s taken away by the police for an interview. Claudia finds the situation strange; they fail to caution him before questioning him, and she urges him to ask for a lawyer. She soon realizes he is the sole focus of the murder investigation, though it doesn’t make sense to her. Whoever killed his father and fiancee would be drenched in blood, and he is not.

Meanwhile, she has plenty to deal with. She’s having trouble connecting with her two teenage sons who, like her, are dealing with their father’s sudden death. Though she misses her husband fiercely, he had been prickly and paranoid, and she suspects his accident was actually a suicide. Her sister Gina, who is staying with them, is both beloved and bothersome, an addict who can’t seem to stay sober however much she tries.

Professionally, things are looking up. She and her sister grew up poor in Glasgow; while Gina clings to her working class identity, Claudia finds herself susceptible to the allure of entering the upper class through the generous perks of her job. But there’s something off about the Chester Terrace prosecution, and when Kirsty Perry raises a concern about the algorithm behind Claudia’s blood-spatter analysis tool, she faces a dilemma.

The Good Liar deals with some of Mina’s common themes. She has a soft spot for broken people like Gina and the drug-addled prime suspect. A lawyer who ultimately defends him is a wildly inappropriate and clever man who has a tainted reputation, though Claudia loves his zaniness and recognizes his underlying moral fiber. One of her sons is always in trouble, and she loves him for it even if she feels unable to cope. Faced with a choice between a comfortable life and the risk of raising unwelcome questions, she struggles to decide the best course.

We witness this struggle in the opening pages and in passages that, in intermittent sections, fill in those twenty minutes until she gives a speech that will destroy her life if she tells the truth. Mina provides insightful and sometimes quite funny observations about wealth and privilege (one character describes shell companies as “little golems made of capital”) and gives us a visceral feel for Claudia’s conflicting urges, while sketching out a society in which power comes from hoarding money and maintaining an elaborate structure of secrets and lies. While uncovering what really happened at Chester Terrace drives the plot, the tension comes from wondering what Claudia will choose to say when she steps up to the podium to give her speech.

This is a tense, twisty, and compelling story that highlights all the ways corruption can infiltrate systems big and small- from families to governments. It broke my heart.

The Good Liar kept my attention from the beginning. The story is a police procedural about a forensics expert famous for having developed a way to assess blood splatter patterns. The story revolves around whether or not the expert is a liar and did she send an innocent man to prison. It’s a rollercoaster of a story!

I have really enjoyed reading Denise Mina in the past but found this book to be very disjointed. I felt for the character of Claudia but found all the other characters to be flat. The back and forth between the two timelines was confusing .There were too many plots that didn’t make sense.

Thank you Net Galley and Mulholland Books for the ARC.

Denise Mina’s The Good Liar is a suspenseful exploration of the impact of wealth, class and power on a murder case. Is justice truly blind? Can expert testimony always be trusted? Is it possible for the law keep pace with technology?

The book opens as a celebration at the Royal College of Forensic Scientists in Regent Park is about to commence and we meet Prof Claudia Atkins O’Sheil and Lord Philip Ardmore. The former is a special guest at the event. Her best known case is a hot topic for the elite members of the audience – the murder of two people at Chester Terrace, located in a posh area of London.

What Claudia reveals about the case will blow her world apart, impacting her children, her work colleagues and her mentor Philip. Her career as a forensic scientist will be all but over and she will lose her home. Claudia has much to lose.

But why would anyone willingly destroy everything that they love? Her reasons become clearer as you read on. The novel is divided in two time periods. The chapters set in the present are titled with the time leading up to Claudia’s scheduled speech. Those set in the past are simply numbered chapters. In both we receive Claudia’s perspective on events, but beware – at times, she’s not the most reliable narrator.

Things were very different for Claudia a year ago. She was grieving the loss of her husband, James. He died in a car accident leaving behind a massive amount of debt. She and her children shared a modest flat on a housing estate with her sister, Gina.

Thankfully, Philip has provided her with financial advice, such as how she might monetise parts of the Blood Spatter Probability Scale that she developed. Her ambition and drive have taken her quite a distance from the lower-middle class home in Glasgow that she grew up in. It’s unlikely Claudia ever envisaged becoming friends with a Lord and she appreciates the career doors that Philip has opened up for her.

When Philip receives a distressing call from the police requesting that he come to a crime scene to identify the victims, Claudia offers to drive. The address is Chester Terrace. Jonty Stewart, an old school friend of Philip’s owns the house. Someone has brutally stabbed Jonty and his fiancée, Francesca Emmanuel, to death.

The police quickly identify a suspect who Claudia believes is innocent. When they are alone, she seizes the opportunity to tell him to get a lawyer. However, when she later hears of his confession, she does nothing, distracted by her new position as a clinical director and the big new home she and her family have moved into rent free. To complicate matters, Gina has started using again and needs to go back into rehab. So the suspect ends up in jail even though she thinks he’s innocent.

The possibility of a flaw in her Blood Spatter Probability Scale and other red flags spur Claudia to start looking into the Chester Terrace case again. She learns things that make her concerned about her family’s safety. Maybe the best way to reveal the truth is in a public setting with many witnesses.

Emotionally, Claudia is all over the place because of her discoveries. It’s no wonder she goes from burning rage to being frozen with fear. The many twists and turns in the plot make The Good Liar unputdownable. Will Claudia do the ethical thing and tell the truth or will she remain silent to keep hold of her comfortable life? Her husband used to describe her as someone who could be seduced by power and a nice venue. The tension continues to build even as Claudia steps onto the stage.

If you’ve read previous books by Denise Mina such as Confidence and Blood Salt Water, you’ll know that her plots and characters are to be savoured. Her strength as a writer comes from her ability to create believable characters in interesting situations that capture your attention. While some authors may paint the image of minor characters with broad strokes, Mina gives sharp edges and depth to her characters. Gina’s character is a good example. It would be easy to focus on her addiction but she’s shown as an artist, a sister, an aunt and a friend. At times, it is Gina who holds Claudia to account.

The Good Liar is a thought provoking novel that will grab your attention and get you questioning the fairness of the law. If you enjoy themes related to family, ethics, professional credibility and privilege, you will love it. Although this is a tale about a murder, Mina explores how even with groundbreaking forensic evidence corruption and whole variety of other matters can still lead to a miscarriage of justice. The shift in focus is fascinating, making for a highly enjoyable read.

3.5 Stars

This is a dual-timeline suspense novel.

Claudia Atkins O’Sheil, a highly respected forensic examiner, created a method of blood-splatter analysis that has established her reputation and that of her mentor and boss, Lord Philip Ardmore. From the opening the reader learns that she intends to reveal a secret that will ruin her reputation and career and destroy those of others too. Then the novel flashes back to a year earlier when she and Philip are called to a double homicide. The victims are Jonty Stewart, a close friend of Philip’s, and Jonty’s much younger fiancée. Jonty’s ne’er-do-well son William is suspected, but Claudia is not convinced and keeps investigating. Placing herself and her family in danger, she uncovers a web of deceit, financial misconduct, and several murders.

The dual timeline works well to create suspense. Most of the narrative focuses on the past and what Claudia slowly uncovers not only about the double murders but also about the death of her husband James and that of another man. Periodically the narrative switches briefly to the present as she vacillates between revealing what she has learned or keeping the secret and maintaining the status quo. Will she choose truth, justice, and duty or self-preservation and family security?

Claudia is an interesting and complex character. She’s obviously intelligent. Her love for her family is unwavering. She has a lot of stress in her life: she is grieving her husband who died suddenly in an unexplained accident; she is raising her two teenage sons by herself; and her sister is addicted to drugs. Others comment that she is a social climber and she admits that “she was seduced by power”; when an opportunity arises to go to a luxury hotel for lunch, she justifies her decision to accept the invitation though she knows that it’s not appropriate for a number of reasons. This desire for a life amongst the privileged makes her an easy target for manipulation.

I guessed early on the identity of the person behind the crimes, though I certainly didn’t know the details. This didn’t affect my enjoyment because I wanted to have my suspicions confirmed. In fact, the author may have wanted readers to guess the truth and not be blinded as Claudia seems to be.

The novel examines the relationship between expert testimony and justice. The novel asks whether expert testimony helps or hinders the pursuit of justice. The book also emphasizes how the wealthy can easily hide their crimes and use their power to manipulate others.

The novel is fast-paced and a quick read. There is tension throughout so interest is maintained from beginning to end. The ending is satisfying though there are unanswered questions that may irk some readers.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

I received a free copy of this book as part of the Novel Suspects Insiders Club.

The book starts as blood spatter expert Doctor Claudia O’Sheil is about to take the podium at an event to talk about the famous murder case, The Incident at Chester Terrace, which happened the previous year. Her forensic research was the main reason why a person was convicted of the crime.

But here's what has been keeping Claudia awake at night: the evidence was wrong, which means that her life's work is flawed. She already suspects two people had been killed to stop this becoming public. Is she next? Is her family safe? Will she be able to tell the truth?

I really like Denise Mina's books and I love the way she writes her characters. Claudia is flawed and up until the last possible moment, we are not sure what she's going to do with the information that she's got. Will she play along, save her career and let a murderer walk free? Or will she tell the truth and destroy many lives, including hers?

This book started off strong and I was very entertained. Thank you Denise Mina and NetGalley for the opportunity to read The Good Liar.

Denise Mina is a master at creating multi-faceted characters and nail-biting suspense. The Good Liar puts readers in the shoes of Claudia O'Shiel, a woman faced with an unbearable dilemma. She is a highly respected member of the forensic science community. She developed a scientific application that is in worldwide use. She has children to support. She has a reputation to consider. But she also knows that she put an innocent man behind bars and kept the real killer free. What is more important-- her reputation and the safety of her family, or the truth?

Readers watch her relive the murder and its aftermath, knowing that her life really is in danger if the ones responsible for two deaths learn that she knows the truth. I followed Claudia's movements and her thought processes every step of the way, wondering what her final decision would be. And how would that final decision reflect on the real world we live in? So many people are complicit in turning a blind eye to wrongdoing today that I couldn't wait to see what Claudia would do.

Denise Mina has another winner with The Good Liar, but I'm not at all surprised.

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for access to this title. I am auto-approved by this publisher. All opinions expressed are my own.

As the story begins, we are at a party, and it soon becomes clear that Doctor Claudia O'Sheil has a bomb to drop on the press. It is soon hinted that her revelation has something to do with a murder that took place one year prior. As the narrative takes us into the past, we learn more about Claudia and the people around her, as well as slices of the present and the press conference looming closer. What does Claudia know, and can her word be trusted?

I am going to give this a 3-star, but please know I wobble between a 2- 5-3.o overall feeling. I was interested in Claudia. I was interested in the murder. But I am not a person who is interested in being a part of the cream of the wealthy society. On the other hand, Claudia certainly wants to be part of this echelon. When it focused on her family life, a lot of uncomfortable moments. Those scenes with her sister, Gina and her sons. Wow, a highly dysfunctional family!

I may feel all over the place with this book, but if you like a dark and ethical dilemma-riddled tale, this might be your cup of tea.

Expected Publication 29/07/25
Goodreads Review 24/07/25

The Good Liar is my second experience reading a book written by Denise Mina and cements my earlier belief that I must read more of her novels. In The Good Liar, we meet Dr. Claudia O’Sheil a forensics expert famous for having developed a formula for assessing blood spatter patterns for useful data to pinpoint perpetrators of crimes. Her assessment tool was used to identify the killer in what has become an infamous murder committed a year ago, the murders at Chester Terrace. Now, 12 months later, she has been asked to give a speech on her well known and much used tool, the business she leads and some thoughts about that murder and its solution. But…and there is a huge but…she knows so much of this story is a lie and she plans to tell the truth, a truth that would destroy her career, as well as many people she knows well, and might endanger her two sons and their futures.

As this story unfolds, it moves back and forth in time from the present, the evening the speech is to be given, back to the night of the murders, to times with Claudia and two sons at home as they try to adjust to the recent loss of their husband and father, and many other events of all types. With a cast of well developed characters, we follow Claudia’s attempts to work through her personal grief, care for her children, do her work, and begin to see the traces of problems in what had been certainties in her life.

I recommend this book and Denise Mina for those who enjoy well written mysteries which emphasize plot and character. This is not an action story so would not satisfy anyone looking for fast paced action.

Thanks to Little Brown and Co. and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

This one is going to give you whiplash. From the timeline to the decisions Doctor Claudia O'Sheil makes, you'll be in a whirlwind of indecision. I can happily see The Good Liar made for the screen. Complex and at times confusing, I felt a gamut of emotions until the ending. Exactly what a good thriller does.

I like Denise Mina; I can always count on her for an intriguing plot and interesting characters. The Good Liar has both of these, plus a moral dilemma that challenges moral compasses.

Claudia O'Sheil has developed a blood spatter model that has been relied upon as forensic evidence in trials for years; however, it is now being challenged. If the model proves to have inaccuracies, it will reopen cases dating back years and end her career. As she begins to doubt her work, she is called to a ruthless murder of a wealthy man and his fiancée, only to find the man's son is being framed for the murder based on her forensic model. With her career and her son's future in jeopardy, she must decide whether to speak up or let a murderer go free.

This is a thought-provoking book. Switching back and forth in time, the book follows Claudia on her moral journey from the time of the murder to a speech where she can either keep quiet or commit professional suicide. Mina holds the tension throughout and produces a provocative novel as well as a good murder mystery. 4/5 stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and Mulholland Books, for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The publication date is July 29, 2025.

The Good Liar by Denise Mina

The blurb for this book is spot on, so I won’t add to that, aside from, I couldn’t put this book down because I wanted to know – which speech will she give? And, what exactly did she find out?

The story takes place over a year, starting at the first Anniversary of the College Building Opening celebration event where Dr. Claudia O’Sheil may or may not spill the beans; goes back in time to the opening event where she is pulled away to a double murder and proceeds from there to the anniversary event. Since she isn’t convinced that the suspect is guilty of murder, she finds herself doing her own investigations, leading to her to uncover a conspiracy (as described in the blurb).

While written in numerical chapters, in some of them, we go ahead in time (headed with time stamps). I’m not fond of this practice – back and forth in time – but it works here.

I have enjoyed all of Mina’s books, so this was an easy request. She has a knack for describing characters and settings that draw me in and in this book, I wanted to know – who was behind the conspiracy? Who was the murderer? Why? And most of all – does she or doesn’t she?

Thanks to Denise Mina, NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for an advanced copy of this e-book.

well done mystery novel, although I found the characters, especially our lead Claudia, significantly more passive than I would have liked. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

Dr. Claudia O’Sheil is newly widowed with two son and juggling a demanding job as a blood splatter expert. Using revolutionary technology, her reports can make the difference between a guilty or non-guilty verdict. Told in a before and after, The Good Liar opens up with Claudia moments before she is set to give a speech---which speech, she hasn't decided yet. Does she continue the charade that the science is perfect or does she admit that it's flawed? This book is a journey into the who, what, where, when and most importantly, why?

I'll be blunt, reviewing The Good Liar is a hard one for me. On one hand I really enjoy an unreliable narrator where the plot points and twists unravel throughout the book giving a big ah-ha moment at the end. However, at less than 300 people this book was a combination of too long and not long enough in the same breath. There is a lot of flowy sentences and internal dialogue that didn't seem necessary, yet there are a lot of characters you don't get to fully invest in either. One point of contention I had was the way Claudia spoke about her teen sons. At one point she references his clean room and wondered if he had cleaned up quickly after masturbating. It was so weird I stopped reading for a second before I re-read the sentence to make sure I had it right. Sex is a consistent theme because of Claudia's late husband's experience at a boarding school, which by the way, despite knowing everything about it's sordid history, still sends her boys too. I also thought the dialogue between Claudia and her elder son Sam felt forced and heavy handed. Like Claudia had just been discussing something and then the next conversation with Sam it's all that's brought up. I'm a mom of teens and I couldn't relate at all to how she spoke or thought of them, which really disconnected me from the story.

If I only had to rate the first few chapters and the last few chapters it would probably be 3.5/4 stars, but taken as a whole it's more 2-2.5 stars. I needed it to move faster or I needed more depth.

Thank you Little Brown Co for the gifted copy.

I was unable to finish this book and thus will not be posting a full review. I found this incredibly boring. I was unable to understand the point or what was happening. Thank you for the opportunity.