(Image from Barnes & Noble)

DI Adam Fawley knows that most domestic crimes are committed by people the victim knows, often those with whom he or she lives.  So, when 8-year-old Daisy Mason goes missing after a costume party at her Oxford home, he focuses first on her family.  With an obsessive, appearance-obsessed mum, a cold, distant dad, and a strange, moody older brother, Daisy's family certainly seems off, if not flat-out guilty.  One thing is for sure—they're all hiding something.  Did one of them kill the little girl?  Fawley is determined to find out.

While Fawley's got his own problems to deal with, rifling through the Masons' dirty laundry is bringing all kinds of disturbing secrets to light.  Questioning neighbors and acquaintances isn't helping make the Masons look any more innocent.  Still, the evidence isn't coming together quite enough to convince Fawley that he's found his killer.  What really happened to Daisy Mason?  If a family member didn't kill her, who did?  As puzzling as the mystery has become, it's going to get a lot twistier before the case is closed ... 

Close to Home is a debut novel by English mystery writer Cara Hunter and the first in her series featuring DI Adam Fawley.  Although it's not exactly pulse-pounding, the novel is tense, well-plotted, and suspenseful.  The Masons and their associates are almost wholly unlikable, but Fawley is sympathetic if not super original or exciting.  While I figured everything was not quite as it seems, the "unexpected" twist at the end of the book caught me at least a little bit by surprise. I enjoy a mystery that keeps me guessing; overall, this one did that.  I'm not exactly chomping at the bit to get my hands on In the Dark, the next installment (which comes out in July), but I'll definitely read it.  If the books get better as they go, I'm all in for this promising new author and series.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of British domestic thrillers by Gilly Macmillan, Erin Kelly, etc.)

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

for strong language, violence, and disturbing subject matter

To the FTC, with love:  I bought a copy of Close to Home at Barnes & Noble with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger.  Ha ha.