The Liar's Daughter

The Liar's Daughter by Claire Allan

Published by Avon Books

February 2020

No one deserves to be taken before their time. Do they?

Joe McKee – pillar of the Derry community – is dead. As arrangements are made for the traditional Irish wake, friends and family are left reeling at how cancer could have taken this much-loved man so soon.

But grief is the last thing that Joe’s daughter Ciara and step-daughter Heidi feel. For they knew the real Joe – the man who was supposed to protect them and did anything but.

As the mourners gather, the police do too, with doubt being cast over whether Joe’s death was due to natural causes. Because the lies that Joe told won’t be taken to the grave after all – and the truth gives his daughters the best possible motive for killing him…

The Liar's Daughter starts with a dying man.  Joe McKee hasn't been given long to live from his cancer diagnosis by doctors and is taken home to be cared for, rather unwillingly by his step-daughter Heidi.  From the very beginning though, you can tell that there isn't much love lost between the two of them, though it's clear from what everyone else thinks that he is a 'good man' who has spent his life raising Heidi as his own.  As the book progresses we meet Ciara, Joe's daughter from his first marriage, the one he left to begin a new relationship with Heidi's mum.  There is definitely no love lost between the two women though and even when faced with Joe's imminent demise, the two cannot forge a bond.

With everyone in the house looking after Joe in his final hours, it isn't long until he passes away and the family can start to move on; that is until the body is examined post-mortem and it turns out that Joe didn't die of natural causes after all.  Suddenly everyone is a suspect: his cold and seemingly unloving step-daughter Heidi, his own daughter Ciara, who has never forgiven him for abandoning her as a teenager, Heidi's husband Alex who is learning more about his wife's childhood the longer he is in her family home and Joe's sister Kathleen who has come all the way over from England to be with him during his last days.  Which of these, if any of them, would have killed this sick man who only had a short amount of time left to live, and more importantly, why?

Finger soon start being pointed with Ciara blaming Heidi and threatening to go to the police to tell them what she thinks is the truth.  Suddenly both women are having to face truths both of them put to one side over a decade ago and it might be that they aren't the only ones with secrets to protect.

This is an interesting book in examining family relationships though it does contain aspects that may trigger some readers.  An interesting twist at the end that I didn't see coming!

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x

Little Boy Lost

Little Boy Lost by J.P.Carter

Published by Avon

January 2020

Innocence is no protection against evil…

One early October afternoon, ten-year-old Jacob Rossi begins the short walk home from school. But he never makes it.

Days later, DCI Anna Tate is called to the scene of a burning building, where an awful discovery has been made. A body has been found, and the label in his school blazer reads: J. Rossi.

As Anna starts digging, she soon learns that a lot of people had grudges against the boy’s father. But would any of them go so far as to take his son?

And is the boy’s abductor closer than she thinks?

This is the third book by J.P.Cater to feature DCI Anna Tate.  Anna is currently off work due to being reunited with her abducted daughter only to be recalled once the streets of London become filled with unrest and looting and a young boys body is found chained to the walls of a derelict pub.  His father has a high social media presence and the only possible leads they have to the death of Jacob are the number of hate messages that he has been receiving.  Could one of these people be responsible for his son's death?

As Anna sets to work to find the killer, she leaves her daughter in the care of her boyfriend Tom, warning him that the names and addresses of police officers have been leaked to the gangs that are taking to the streets.  While trying to get Chloe to safety, Tom is attacked by a group of youths and Chloe is left to fend for herself on the streets.  It's not a safe place to be for an adult let alone a 12 year old girl who has spent the majority of her life living abroad.  Chloe is totally alone and at the mercy of anyone who wants to take advantage.

The book has two clear narratives - that of what happens to Chloe as she desperately tries to find her mum, and secondly, of who is responsible for the death of Jacob Rossi.  The two stories merge well together and the story concludes with a twist I didn't see coming.  Not only is this a crime story though, it is a novel built around relationships which J.P.Carter tackles well.  I'm excited to see what is coming up for Anna Tate in his next book.

Happy Reading

Miss Chapters x