This is the 7th book in the Adam Fawley series but the first for me. There were a few bits that seemed to be continuing storylines but for the most this was a mystery that was contained in this book so I enjoyed it. I listened to the audiobook and the narration was excellent, but there were a lot of different formats of information and I would have preferred this one in physical form to be able to track those a little better. The mystery in this one was pretty out there and I enjoyed it quite a lot except I didn’t love the ending. There were a few bits that were far fetched, but it was overall a good mystery. A woman is found dead and buried but there is a hair on the body that leads police to a previously solved murder of an 8 year old girl. But they don’t share a perpetrator, the hair is from that 8 year old child, clearly still alive. My favorite perspective/modality was the shadow journal from that missing child herself. It was so well done. I liked this book a lot and the characters so I will have to go back and find some of the previous books.

Loved this one! Great narrators and the story was very entertaining! This was the first book by this author that I've read / listened to, and now I feel the need to get to the backlist! Definitely recommend this one.

Making a Killing is sharp, gritty, and satisfyingly twisty — a solid entry in a series that just keeps getting better. Think investigative journalism meets small-town secrets, with a side of dry wit and escalating danger. It can be read as a standalone, but the emotional impact definitely hits harder if you’ve read the others. The characters are layered, the pacing is tight, and the multicast narration brings it all to life in the best way. It’s dark without being overwhelming and smart without trying too hard. Definitely worth the listen.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 stars
Rated R for language, violence, mature themes, and references to sexual assault.

Cara Hunter delivers another twisty, emotionally charged installment in the Adam Fawley series with Making a Killing. When a new true-crime angle reopens the harrowing case of a murdered child, past mistakes come crashing into the present. Hunter weaves dual timelines and media influence into a taut police procedural that keeps you guessing until the final page. The moral gray areas and emotional stakes are high, especially for Fawley, whose personal connection to the case adds depth and urgency. A gripping, smartly plotted thriller.

Thank you Cara Hunter, Harper Audio, and Netgalley for the advanced copy!

#makingakilling #netgalleyarc #netgalleyreview #netgalley #arcreview #arc #arcreader #review #somanybookssolittletime

Making a Killing

Format: Audio
Audio Pub Day: May 20
Rating: 4⭐️

Hunter brings back an old case in this DI Fawley book, the one from her first in the series of missing girl Daisy Mason. I’m so glad I Close to Home last year, I just don’t think I would have enjoyed this as much had I not already known everything surrounding the previous case.

I thought the mystery was really interesting and having all the characters who worked on the case previously come back in to play was great. I really enjoy how Hunter devises her story and was very entertained by this.

The multicast narration really elevated the story, the audio was excellent!

Thank you Harper Audio for the alc via Netgalley!

Making a Killing is the latest installment in the police procedural series featuring DCI Adam Fawley. While it would be ideal to read the rest of the series first, I didn’t and I was still able to enjoy it. This is due in large part to how well the author does a summary and character recap in the beginning of the book. That helped a ton!

The plot was well-done and easy to follow and I was definitely intrigued throughout the book. Kudos to the trio of narrators on this audiobook; they did a really good job.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for this audiobook ARC.

It starts with a missing girl. It ends with your trust in humanity in shreds. Somewhere in between, the truth body-checks you into traffic and steals your wallet. Daisy Mason was eight years old when she vanished from a backyard barbecue in Oxford. No screams. No body. Just a costume, a garden full of secrets, and a mother the public decided was wrong — too cold, too calm, too guilty-looking. Sharon Mason was convicted of Daisy’s murder and sentenced to life. Case closed. But Daisy? Daisy was never found.

Now, in “Making a Killing,” a woman’s body is discovered in a shallow woodland grave. She’s bound. Brutalized. And the forensic evidence ties her straight back to Daisy Mason. And just like that, the story the police wrapped up eight years ago starts to rot at the seams. Was Sharon wrongly imprisoned? Did they get the wrong killer? Or — and here’s where the book turns the knife — what if Daisy isn’t dead? What if she’s been alive this whole time? What if she’s been watching? Waiting? Pulling strings no one even realized were still moving?

Cara Hunter doesn’t just reopen a cold case — she takes a flamethrower to it. And as someone jumping into this series at book seven (yes, I know, I’m that person), I was fully prepared to be lost. But the story catches you up fast. There’s a much-needed team recap at the front — and as a first-time visitor to the series, I was clinging to it like a lifeline. Without it, I would’ve been lost in a sea of detectives, trauma flashbacks, and job title upgrades. Hunter threads in just enough backstory to keep you afloat, but make no mistake: this team has history, and you’ll feel every unresolved bit of it.

Fawley, a DCI (that’s Detective Chief Inspector for us non-Brits), is the beating, broken heart of this book. He’s not flashy. He’s not brilliant and tortured in that hot detective way. He’s just a man with a crumbling moral compass, and the weight of one very bad conviction pressing on his chest. He arrested Sharon Mason. He believed she was guilty. And now he’s being asked to rip that whole case open again — fully aware that if they got it wrong, he helped destroy an innocent woman’s life. Honestly, someone get this man a therapist, a whiskey, and a job that doesn’t involve murder.

And if that weren’t enough, here comes the true crime show “Infamous” — hosted by slick media parasite Nick Vincent — digging up the original case like it’s a ratings grab. Once the cameras get involved, all hell breaks loose. The cops are scrambling, the public’s frothing at the mouth, and Daisy’s case turns into tabloid catnip all over again. The show isn’t looking for justice. It wants a story. Preferably one with blood, betrayal, and a beautiful victim.

This book is obsessed with perception: who we believe, who we condemn, and how the media spins grief into spectacle. Sharon Mason didn’t get convicted on evidence. She got convicted on vibes. She didn’t cry enough. She didn’t say the right things. That’s the JonBenét Ramsey effect — when a mother becomes the villain just for surviving her child’s disappearance the wrong way. Layer in the Madeleine McCann overtones — the missing girl as national obsession, turned into a symbol instead of a person — and you’ve got a novel that cuts way deeper than your average procedural.

Hunter doesn’t just throw in plot twists. She forces you to examine your own biases. The book’s signature mixed media format — case files, articles, transcripts, internet sleuth forums — makes you feel like you’re piecing together the story yourself. Until she yanks the rug out from under you. Because you weren’t solving anything. You were consuming it. Just like the public. Just like "Infamous."

And through all of it, Fawley keeps digging. Even when it hurts. Especially when it hurts. Because this time, he has to get it right — no matter what it costs him. And that? That’s where the book stops being a thriller and becomes a reckoning.

Yes, it’s a slow burn. Yes, there are a lot of characters to track. But by the time the threads start tightening, it hits hard. “Making a Killing” isn’t just about who killed whom. It’s about who we destroy along the way — and whether the truth, once uncovered, is any better than the lie we believed.

Four stars — and now I’m spiraling back to book one to watch how the Daisy Mason case really began.

Whodunity Award: For Getting Played by the System and the Streaming Service, All in One Glorious Flameout

Huge thanks to NetGalley and HarperAudio for the early access to this audiobook — and shoutout to the narrators (Emma Cunniffe, Lee Ingleby, David Blair, and Alexandra Boulton) for absolutely nailing it. That cast didn’t just tell the story — they dragged me into the interrogation room, lit the overhead fluorescent, and stared me down like I had something to confess. Top-tier, no notes.

While I loved the storyline and it can be read as a stand alone; if this is the first time you’re picking up this series like me; I would suggest reading a print version. There is a very large cast of characters and while the author does a great job of outlining each at the beginning; you can’t just flip back like you could in a print version. Or take notes, because I was lost.

Like I said, a good fast paced action packed story, just a little hard to follow on audio

Thank you to HarperAudio Adult and NetGalley for this audio arc.

I very much enjoyed the audiobook for Making a Killing by Cara Hunter. I thought the narrators were great! They didn’t “oversell” the parts they were playing which I think is important.

While this is number two in a series, I think it can easily be read as a standalone. If you like police procedural books, you’ll love this.

Cara Hunter’s Making a Killing is the newest installment of the DI Fawley (now DCI Fawley) thrilling mystery series. It was so worth the wait!!

In this psychological thriller, we find DCI Adam Fawley and his team of forces from not only Thames Valley CID, but also South Mercia CID tackling the craziest whodunit by trying to first figure out what and how “it” had been done.

Eight years prior, circumstantial evidence had seen an eight-year-old Daisy’s parents sentenced to crimes such as for her murder and child pornography consumption. New evidence from a new murder where there was an actual body has brought everything surrounding Daisy’s disappearance and assumed murder into question.

Just when you think that you definitely know something new, lies are uncovered, and twists in the plot are revealed.

This book was well worth the wait, and had me incorrectly guessing through most of the book. I loved this fast-paced thriller!!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio Adult for this fascinating audio ARC!!

If you have not read Close to Home, the first Adam Fawley book, and you plan to you should read it first as Making a Killing will be a huge spoiler. Having said that Making a Killing can easily be read as a stand-alone as all of the background is explained. I listened to the audio version and loved the format with messages, memos and news articles being read. There is a large cast of characters, and they were listed with a short bio. If you are listening like I did you might find taking notes will help with who each detective is, but other than getting to know them better and perhaps for future books it really doesn’t affect the story. This is a fabulous police procedural where small clues and great detective work eventually lead to a conclusion that no one could have imagined.