Murder in the Family

When Luke Ryder was murdered in 2003, the case had all the elements to create a media sensation – it took place in an upscale London neighborhood; he was young, good-looking, and married to an older woman; and most importantly, it was a complete mystery, despite family being at home when it happened.

But it went unsolved, and twenty years later, Guy Howard is teaming up with producer Nick Vincent to create a new series of true crime show Infamous – and he’s determined to finally solve his step-father’s murder.

The format of Murder in the Family was a new one for me; the story is presented as a series of episodes of the show, with various media before, after, and between transcripts. You see what the public sees, but with the context of emails between participants, discussion boards where theories abound, or review articles that are quick to praise the dramatic goings on. It could have been a gimmick, but Cara Hunter made it work – I was shocked by the cliffhanger endings of each part of the show, and intrigued by the breadcrumbs of extra information exchanged in between.

And of course, there were twists and turns aplenty. Initially it would appear that there could be no-one easily identified as wanting Luke Ryder dead, let alone having the opportunity to kill him. By the end, we had any number of potential suspects, some of whom held intriguing links to the most unexpected people. There’s a number of characters the central show brought on to add their expertise to the investigation, and the author also did a fantastic job of establishing them as individual voices, each with a distinct personality and set of skills to bring to the table.

I really enjoyed this – it was an intriguing and very entertaining read. Cara Hunter has woven a truly delicious mystery here that should tempt any true crime fan to dip their toes into fiction.