Somebody’s Daughter by Carol Wyer is the seventh book in the Natalie Ward series, and it’s a compelling addition. Newly promoted DI Lucy Carmichael leads the investigation when a young woman is found dead in a car park. Natalie, now a DCI, oversees the case, wanting to help her team succeed, especially with their new high-tech facility.

When a second body, also a sex worker, is discovered, both deaths seem linked to a pimp named Tommy. But the case takes a twist when the daughter of a wealthy businessman is found dead, revealing that things are far from straightforward. Now, they must catch the killer before they strike again.

Carol Wyer delivers another thrilling, well-written mystery with plenty of twists. The constant discoveries keep you guessing until the end. The character relationships add depth, and it'll be interesting to see Lucy lead the team and what’s next for Natalie.

I would like to thank Bookouture & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review

really fast paced read from start to finish, this book kept me engrossed and always had me wondering what was coming next i loved the characters and the story line

This is the first of Carol Wyers books that I have read and it certainly won’t be the last. I only wish I had read them from the beginning!
Police crime series are a favourite read for me and this did not disappoint.

This is part of a series but can be read as a standalone.
It is a very twisty read which I enjoyed.
The pacing slows at times which drags it out a bit. But the storytelling pulls it through

Things have changed greatly over the course of the last 6 books and as a new case is brought to the team everybody has different roles. Natalie is now DCI and as such this means Lucy Carmichael steps up to run and oversee the investigation. It was strange to see them in new roles and it was clear from the characters that this certainly isn’t an easy adjustment for any of them.

The absolute worst case possible is also the first for Natalie to oversee and Lucy to run with the death of a teenage girl. As usual the team all get stuck in, and although I feared Natalie wouldn’t be as involved it soon became apparent that she most certainly would be. For me one of the strengths about this series is the fantastic balance between the crimes being committed and the personal lives of all the characters.

We get to see Natalie adjusting to now living with Mike following the breakdown of her marriage. We also get glimpses of the team working the case and this is what makes for such an interesting and easy to read book by Wyer. This storyline in terms of the murder team wasn’t necssarily my favourite but as usual there is plenty of action going on and as areader you feel totally engaged. Another highly enjoyable book in this series.

A book in the Natalie Ward series equals a fantastic book!

Honestly this detective and her team are one of my favourites and I love Natalie's personal story very, very much. It's so touching and I feel like it could happen to anybody.

In some stories I could not be happier when the killers are caught, put behind bars, getting what they deserve. Sometimes though, like in this one, I feel sorry for what they went through. It was shaping them and messing with their minds. So very heartbreaking and I felt the deep sense of helplessness. 

Of course starting to kill will not put the world to rights, but in their head they see it differently. They really believe they try to make the world a little bit better, trying to help those in need and again my heart broke...

A suspenseful book I enjoyed thoroughly. I am sorry to have to say goodbye. 5 stars

Thank you

My Review:
Loved!!!!! I started this series when it first came out and I’m not sure why it took me so long to read the last book in it. This series was one of my favorites and I’m so happy I finally got around to finishing it. I missed everything about it. All the characters were fantastic and were written so well. I really felt like I knew every single one of them personally. Each of them worked so well together too. It was fun catching up with all of them again. The plot of this one kept me interested and intrigued. I had to find out what happened at all costs. I read until I fell asleep and picked it right back up in the morning to finish it. It was a very faced paced read that I couldn’t put done. Let’s talk about that heart attack of an ending. Wow, it left me shocked and speechless. What a way to end a series. Carol Wyer really outdid herself with this book along with the whole series. I can’t wait to read more by her. I know she has another series out that I’ve been wanting to read. Now seems like the right time to start it.

In conclusion, the plot, the characters and all the twists in this book made this book an enjoyable read. I would definitely recommend it and happily give it 5 Hearts❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

This book was a decent read. It was medium-slow paced. I stuck to reading this book because the plot was engaging although some parts of this book made me cringe. I found some parts confusing especially the breakaway scenes with Whitey and the unknown character. It confused me more than intrigued me.

Perhaps this book would be more enjoyable if read in a series but as a standalone its pretty average. Not bad not not mind blowing or exceptional either.

Another brilliant and thrilling book in this action packed series. There is a serial killer on the loose in Samford and Detective Natalie Ward and her team are racing against time to stop the killer before he strikes again. Natalie is also dealing with issues in regards to her estranged sister. The new team that is working might have a mole amongst them. Can they work together in time to stop the killer?

It's been a long time coming but I finally got around to reading the last in the DI Natalie Ward series by Carol Wyer. Published last July, I still had every intention of getting to it eventually despite venturing into her latest and equally addictive DI Kate Young series. Over the course of the series we have watched Natalie grow as she suffers grief on a whole new level and her personal life began to implode. In SOMEBODY'S DAUGHTER, things come full circle for Natalie as she begins a new chapter of her life while tendrils from her past tease readers with what may be awaiting us should Carol revisit Natalie and her team at a later date.

The prologue opens with promise as two sisters fight over a boy they were both interested in. Although the boy in question is actually a man or twenty fours years and 17 year old Sophia is tearing strips of her 15 year old sister Katie for snaffling him from under her nose, knowing how she felt about him. Katie, on the other hand, was sick of copping the blame for everything and of her older sister lording it over her at every turn. She knew her parents would side with Sophia so with one final burst of anger, she pushed Sophia and raced upstairs to pack. With her parents out of town tonight, Katie would leave the shackles of authority and her family behind to start a new life with Tommy.

Natalie Ward has seen a lot of changes both professionally and personally since the previous book "The Secret Admirer" , where she had left her husband David after he gambled away most of their life and their savings. Now a year has passed and she has divorced David and a new and elite crime unit has been created in the newly renovated Victorian building of Holborn House for which Natalie has been promoted to DCI to oversee, with newly promoted DI Lucy Carmichael heading up things under Natalie's command.

Meanwhile, after a stop-gap in a poky little flat not far from HQ, she and son Josh have now moved in with Mike Sullivan, who is Head of Forensics at Samford HQ, whilst trying to win over Mike's 7 year old daughter Thea, who thinks that Natalie is keeping her already divorced parents apart. As this is Mike's weekend to have Thea, Natalie has organised a Bonfire Party with loads of food like toffee apples, has decked out the yard with fairy lights and has even bought her an Olaf the talking snowman from "Frozen". Some of Thea's friends have been invited to enjoy the festivities with her while Mike puts on a modest display of fireworks.

And then she gets the call.

The body of a teenage girl has been found in West Gate car park, apparently strangled. She is soon identified as Amelia Saunders, a runaway from Nottinghamshire who left home eighteen months previously after an arguement with her father for which he blamed himself and then took his own life. The team learn that Amelia had been working as a prostitute and that she was last seen in the company of a scruffy young man with frizzy hair in a "man bun" known as Tommy. The investigation is barely underway when the team, whilst looking for another young teenager called Katie Bray who'd also run away, come across the emaciated body of a young teenage girl whom DS Murray Anderson recognises immediately as Katie the following day. After speaking with her older sister Sophia and father Phil, they learnt that Katie left after a fight with Sophia to be with the boyfriend she'd stolen from her whose name was none other than Tommy.

With the bodies of two teenage girls, both emaciated and very obviously soliciting as prostitutes, the team begin looking for Tommy. But with no idea what he looks like or even his surname, they have no idea where to start. Until they come across some CCTV of Katie behind the Hardy's department store in which they see a white van drive away. Freeze frame the picture, zoom in and they have a registration which comes back to one Tommy Field and a local address in some dilapidated flats marked for demolition. But upon visiting the address there is no sign of Tommy, but there are those of a woman having shared the flat with prints coming back to those of Katie. So while she may have believed him to be her boyfriend, he saw her as a meal ticket pimping her out to pay for his obvious habit.

The following day, the investigation is ramped up a notch with the discovery of the body of Rachel Hardy, daughter of affluent businessman, Eugene Hardy, owner of local department store Hardy's. But the MO for this murder is different. While Rachel was indeed strangled, the word "GUILTY" had been written in biro across her forehead. The team are baffled. Why would the murderer suddenly switch MO? And why target an affluent member of Samford society as opposed to prostitutes? What has changed? Questioning her father proves fruitless as he becomes enraged with the direction of enquiries before throwing them out. Then another two bodies are discovered on consecutive days, both with the word "GUILTY" scrawled across their foreheads. What does this mean? And is Tommy or rival pimp Valentine responsible for these murders?

But when Tommy's semi-decomposed body is found in the canal partially eaten by fish, the team are thoroughly stumped. They have lost their prime suspect to all five murders and the top brass is gunning for a clean result. But with the death of Tommy, Superintendent Tasker is happy to conclude that he was responsible for the deaths and then threw himself in the canal. But then the autopsy reveals that Tommy was dead before he went into the water. So who is responsible for the now six murders they are under pressure to solve quickly?

SOMEBODY'S DAUGHTER has a slightly different feel to it than the previous books in this series in that I think it would suffice quite sufficiently as a standalone. Although it is always best to read a series from the beginning, the format of this this book is different providing flashbacks to Natalie's life as well as enough backstory to keep readers in the loop. There is also more information regarding her estrangement from her younger sister Frances who she alludes to in previous books but doesn't detail. In this book, she provides the backstory to what lead to the estrangement through flashbacks. It has provided readers with a yearning for more wanting to know how Natalie will handle the new turn of events we are left with by the book's end. I do hope Carol will return at some point to give us some answers.

The pace of this story does begin a little slower than some but soon builds up enough as the bodycount continues to rise and the pieces of the puzzle are unscrambled. As with all of Carol's books, the story is realistic if not shocking as the lives of society's dregs are picked apart in an effort to find out who murdered them. And as is usually the way, the moment more prominent members of the community become victims the focus of the investigation moves to them, leaving the sorry lives of two teenage girls at the bottom of the scrap heap. Although not under this team, if Lucy or Natalie have anything to do with it. All lives matter...even teenage runaways who end up sex workers.

A good solid procedural, SOMEBODY'S DAUGHTER is a complex mystery with all the grit of a Natalie Ward crime thriller. There are plenty of twists as the dark truth is slowly uncovered, revealing what is actually a very sad tale. I do, however, hope that this is not Natalie's last hurrah and look forward to Carol bringing life back into her again and revealing some answers we readers would love to see pan out with where things left off. Although, that is to say this book did not actually end on a cliffhanger but there are some unanswered questions about Natalie's past which threatened to come to light...and then didn't.

A definite twisted tale, SOMEBODY'S DAUGHTER brings Natalie's professional and personal life full circle in this seventh book that, while should be read alongside the others in the series, can work well enough as a standalone. I certainly enjoyed this book but of the series, I think "The Blossom Twins" was the best. And the most tragic.

Recommended for Carol Wyer fans and lovers of crime fiction.

I would like to thank #CarolWyer, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #SomebodysDaughter in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to thank Bookouture and Netgalley for allowing me to read this book.

Little by little girls disappear, the body of a teenager is found in a parking lot, as for Natalie Ward she has ice chips in her veins, she will remember that this teenager is the daughter of someone.

This teenager happens to be Amelia Saunders who disappeared, fleeing her authoritarian father, Natalie will learn that she was working on the street under the orders of her boyfriend Tommy who was violent towards her.

One day later another girl is found strangled in a park. Katie Bray had also run away and knew well the famous Tommy.

Except that the next morning a woman is found dead with the word "Guilty" on her forehead. Natalie sees her investigation more complex than expected. She will have to find a link between her three daughters. Except that a body will be fished out of the canal and it turns out that within her team a mole will divulge information vital to the investigation.

Will Natalie be able to stop this killer before he kills someone else?

A book I read in one sitting because I love the author's writing, the story so gripping, captivating, addictive, full of suspense and twists and turns with very endearing characters.

I love Carol Wyer’s books and have really enjoyed the Natalie Ward series so far.
When two young girls are murdered, Natalie is back in the thick of things, this time in a supervisory role to the newly promoted Lucy. The two girls are both runaways, reported missing by their parents, and who is the mysterious Tommy? There are also snippets running through the book from the life of an army cadet who is humiliated and shamed after trying to save a female recruit from a vicious sexual assault.
Natalie, meanwhile has found happiness with Mike, but still has to win round his young daughter Thea. Her ex husband David seems to be settling down too, with a new girlfriend Natalie has yet to meet. Then Natalie receives a letter from her estranged sister Frances. The two haven’t spoken for many years, after Frances’ lies led to Natalie leaving home. Is it time to forgive and forget? Already looking forward to the next installment

Somebody's Daughter is a gripping new book in the Natalie Ward series. What started off as a bright new series is now evolving into a solid, thrilling & dramatic series. Natalie with all her tragedy & drama in her personal life makes for an interesting character. I don't remember seeing a character go through so much upheaval over the course of 7 books. Natalie is an ambitious, perceptive & practical police officer making her very level-headed. I liked this book the most in this series. Lucy & Murray have a more detailed role in this one & it was interesting to see them work with the change in team dynamics. Their frustrations & struggles with the case was captured so well! The plot felt very ordinary at the start but soon starts to pick up with the intrigue. The ending felt a bit abrupt & I was hoping to see the team tie up loose ends in a neat bow . However, I was happy to see the reason for Nat's estrangement from her sister finally revealed. Some new characters make their way to her life & Im looking forward to see how these are handled in the next book!

Thank you, NetGalley, Bookouture & Carol Wyer for an arc!

When two young girls are murdered are murdered within days of each other the connections seem clear. Both were runaways, both had been working the streets. Both had been linked to a violent young man called Tommy. As DCI Natalie Ward and her team search for him another woman is found dead. Killed in the same way but this time she is rich....privileged. Suddenly a seemingly simple case becomes a lot more complicated.

As always Carol Wyer has delivered. It's a hard to put down and compelling story although difficult to read sometimes. The young girls stories are tragic and sadly very believable. Natalie Ward remains one of the most relatable and authentic fictional detectives around at the moment. She has a personal life but not one that takes over every story. Looking forward to book 8.

This took me a while to get around to but so glad I finished it! I absolutely love Thrillers and it was an amazing page-Turner. I will definitely be looking out for more in this series and by this author!

When a young girl runs away from home and a second girl is found dead in a car park Natalie Ward’s brand new crime unit finds itself facing its first case. Now Natalie is a DCI it’s not her running the case, it’s up to her new DI Lucy…

As ever Carol’s writing is absolutely gripping. You can’t help but be drawn into the investigation, trying to spot clues and figure out who the murderer is ahead of the team. Carol has never really shied away from the darker aspects of crime in her books, from young missing children, to mothers being killed in front of their babies but for some reason I found this book the hardest to read. Not in the sense it was a bad book by any stretch of the imagination but I felt the victim’s stories, the lives that they were living really affected me for the first time. I’ve always felt a lot of empathy for the victims in Carol’s past books but quite often the victims themselves haven’t really been living bad lives, they’ve been happy in life up until the point it’s been dramatically ended. But in this story there are a few characters that I really couldn’t help but empathise with, it was so sad that they had ended up living the lives that they were.

Now how to talk about Natalie without giving away any spoilers… Natalie is now heading up a shiny new serious crime unit which does mean with her promotion to DCI she is not as actively involved in the investigation. She is no longer the one making the day to day decisions about which leads to follow and what steps to take next. I’ll be honest I think I was struggling to get used to it as much as Natalie was herself! Luckily for me Natalie is still very involved in the case offering support to her brand DI especially as the body count increases and the media start circling along with Superintendent Tasker. I have to be honest though it’s the personal aspects of Natalie’s development in this book that really intrigued me and I’m not sure really how much I can say without giving things away! It was really interesting to read in detail about what happened between Natalie and her sister all those years ago, it’s something I’ve been wondering about ever since we discovered in the earlier books that something had happened leading to them no longer talking so it was really interesting to finally understand what was behind all of that. I’m also intrigued to discover more about what’s going on with David…

I thought it was really interesting to see Lucy step up into her new role, dealing with being the one that makes the decisions but also the different dynamic of the team. I hope that Lucy and Murray’s friendship will manage to overcome the fact that she was given the promotion over him, there were a couple of moments where I was a little disappointed with some of his feelings but at the same time I can almost understand where they are coming from.

As this is likely to be my last Natalie Ward review for a while I can’t let it pass without mentioning Mike, I’m still so firmly on Team Mike! I pleased their relationship is still going well, and I hope her relationship with Thea continues to get stronger, although I appreciate it must be difficult with everything that happened with her daughter still so raw! Natalie deserves some good in her life though so I hope they manage to make it work long term!


Final Thoughts…
I’m not sure if or when we’ll get more in the Natalie Ward series, I hope that one day we will, if not Carol I have some questions I need you to answer! What I will say is that the Natalie Ward series has been an absolute joy to read from The Birthday through to Somebody’s Daughter. Each of the seven books has captured my imagination and I’ve loved following Natalie’s journey. I hope this isn’t the very end but in the meantime I’m looking forward to meeting Carol’s latest detective in her new series next year!

This book started off really well. It had me hooked on the first page. In parts it did seem to slow down but overall it didnt affect the book to me. I havent read any of the other books but I will be definately reading more now !! I love the character of Natalie Ward . The book was so realistic that I believed I knew the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

The last book in the series was probably my favourite and this may have been my least favourite.That doesn't mean it wasn't good. The story was still as engaging as ever and it was so nice to see the characters adapting to their new roles.

I really hope we get more books in this series!

Carol Wyer is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. She is a go to author when I want a book I know I’m guaranteed to enjoy. This book was brilliant. Intrigue. Realistic characters. It has all the ingredients of a brilliant book that you can’t put down. Highly recommend this.

Two teenage girls who were street workers and under the protection of Tommy are found on consecutive days. Both had been strangled and left in the same area.

On the third day, a wealthy young woman was also found strangled ... the word "guilty" written on her forehead. And then a man is found outside the school where he worked ..also strangled, also with the word "guilty" written on his forehead.

DCI Natalie Ward has assigned the investigation to the newest Di .. Lucy. She's never led an investigation before and it seems like her self confidence has flown and she's relying more and more on Natalie to help her out. Natalie is under the gun and threatened that her team might be dismembered if these cases aren't solved ... and soon.

The team races desperately to solve these crimes .. and when the prime suspect is also found murdered, they suspect a mole in their department. Whoever the killer is .... he is always at least one step ahead.

It's an action-packed page-turner full of twists and turns which rival a good old fashioned roller coaster ride. Suspects are many and varied. The characters are deftly drawn with the main characters leading the charge. Although 7th in the series, this is easily read as a stand alone, however, I recommend starting with the first book and reading in order. It's been a terrific series and I enjoy how the personal lives are blended with the professional. Each book seems better than the last.

Many thanks to the author / Bookouture / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.