Title: A Stranger in the Family
Author: Jane Casey
Publisher: Hemlock Press
Synopsis:
When nine-year-old Rosalie Marshall vanished from her bed one summer night, her disappearance tore her family apart.
Now, sixteen years later, her mother Helena is found dead, her husband by her side. It looks like a straightforward murder-suicide but DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent soon discover nothing about this case is straightforward.
The Marshalls have been keeping secrets, and they aren’t alone. Josh has been holding something back too – something that could change everything for Maeve.
But one person is prepared to kill to hide the truth.
Until Maeve finds out what happened to Rosalie, no one will be safe…
My review:
A Stranger in the Family is another brilliant release from Jane Casey as part of the Maeve Kerrigan series! Like many of the previous novels, this one manages to combine a gripping investigation, lots of twists, and plenty of character development.
The plot was engaging and kept me intrigued. I really liked the storyline with Rosalie’s disappearance as a child – I always find missing people storylines interesting – and the present-day investigation into who killed her parents. There were plenty of twists and surprises, as well as a convincing cast of characters that were varied but never felt like ‘too much’ – they felt realistic and never one-dimensional.
For me, though, this novel felt like it had more about the development of Maeve and Josh’s relationship than other books (apart from than the previous novel, The Close, which saw Maeve and Josh go undercover as a married couple). At the start of A Stranger in the Family, Maeve is sure Josh is avoiding her because of how things were left previously. As the novel goes on, we see the tricky relationship between the two characters develop further – with the sexual tension from The Close still very much present! 😉 Surprisingly, I enjoyed this heavier focus on their relationship versus being more focused on the investigation. It adds a bit of light relief to the case they were investigating.
A Stranger in the Family skilfully continues this brilliant series, and I am already excited for book 12!
Rating: 5/5
Many thanks to the publisher, Hemlock Press, for providing a copy of this book on which I chose to write an honest review.