After seeing this book pop up in my TikTok FYP, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy.

This novel is so unique in its approach to storytelling. I love that readers are incorporated into the story as a main characters— solving the crime alongside the detectives.

Fans of clue and mystery puzzles will love diving into the case!

3.5 ⭐️

This book a mystery novel but told in an unusual manner - the conceit is that it’s a season of a true crime/cold case show about an unsolved murder from 20 years before, when the new younger husband of a wealthy woman was found dead on their estate by one of his teenage step-daughters. It’s told through transcripts of each episode, which involve discussions between a panel of people trying to solve the crime, plus documents that are in the show, and newspaper articles, text messages, and chat board messages about the show.

I really enjoy unconventional formats for novels, and this was a good one. I had heard that it was a little tough on kindle, so I read my e-ARC on my iPad and it was no problem at all. Plus, the mystery was so good and really kept me guessing - sometimes I would guess a piece of information a little before it was revealed and sometimes not, but all in the best way, and it was one where everything actually made sense in the end which is not always the case. This was such a fun one, enjoyed every minute of it!

This is a fun book. It is told completely in mixed media. It was told in a way that I was able to try and figure out the murder along with the characters. I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more from Cara Hunter.

Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for the digital arc.

A quick read that was super enjoyable, Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter involves a cold case crime that is pieced together through the book via articles, notes, text messages, and interviews and I loved that. I like the way the author wrote the book, and it was a pleasant break from the usual narrative structure. I am always drawn to cold cases and mysteries, so this was the perfect novel for me. If you like suspense, mysteries, true crime etc then get this book!

It was a case that gripped the nation. In December 2003, Luke Ryder, the stepfather of acclaimed filmmaker Guy Howard (then aged 10), was found dead in the garden of their suburban family home.

Luke Ryder’s murder has never been solved. Guy Howard’s mother and two half-sisters were in the house at the time of the murder—but all swear they saw nothing. Despite a high-profile police investigation and endless media attention, no suspect was ever charged.

But some murder cases are simply too big to forget…

Now comes the sensational new streaming series Infamous, dedicated to investigating—and perhaps cracking—this famous cold case. The production team will re-examine testimony, re-interview witnesses, and once again scour the evidence. The family will speak. The key players will be reunited—on camera. The truth will come out.

Go get this one right now!

OH MY GOD!!!! This book was so much fun! I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun reading a book. I was obsessed. I felt like I was on the set of a Netflix show.

I love mixed media in books but I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that was entirely mixed media. It definitely took some getting used to, but it kept me so engaged and interested and added such a fun element to the story. I can absolutely see how it won’t be for everyone though. Whether you like it or not, you cannot deny that a lot of work and care went into this book and making it feel so REAL. I applaud the author for this, and making it such an experience.

The murder mystery aspect was great, despite being hard to follow at times. I loved that we are being given information as the characters were being given it. It felt like I really was trying to solve this case along side of them. The diverse cast of characters each had distinct voices, and added a lot of personality to the book.

I enjoyed the ending and it definitely took me by surprise. I thought the story was going in an entirely different direction and then it went left! Overall, I really really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it!

A new documentary going over the evidence of a 20 year old case brings new information. Will this group of investigators be able to solve the case? This book was compelling but didn’t make me feel like I wanted to read right through the night. The format was a little hard to read on Kindle and the newspaper clippings and message board threads were unreadable in the ebook. I’m not sure if I missed out on some of the story because of this.

This book has potential but is not good if you are reading it on a kindle or audiobook. I tried both ways to read it and just couldn't get into it. On my kindle I couldn't read the newspaper clippings and this made me feel like a I was missing something. The audiobook has a good cast but with out the visuals it was hard to keep track of everyone and everything.

This book is unlike anything else on the market.

Do you enjoy True Crime?
Do you try to figure out who the killer is before the end?

Then come read through and see….can you solve the crime before the characters can?

This book is different in the best possible way! Can you catch the killer? Did I?

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨
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This is the perfect definition of epistolary novel. This story is told through mixed media in the form of mainly a script, as this story is supposed to be written in the form of a documentary, but also through newspaper columns, text messages, fan forums, maps, email exchanges and even cast member resumes. It was so unique and it was so riveting and addicting that it made for such a refreshing read. You get sucked into this entire story, trying to figure out who exactly murdered Luke Ryder.
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I found this read to be absolutely addicting. Throughout this story you are bombarded with unexpected twists that will have you actually saying “what in the actual fuck” out loud. With each twist brings you a new revelation as to why each of the cast members were picked to be apart of the documentary investigative team. With each twist and revelation you will question everything, including the characters authenticity., including who ultimately is the murderer (I think I changed my mind at least 24589 times). Cara Hunter is a mastermind at twists. The ending will eventually come full circle and while the ending wasn’t overly jaw dropping, the lead up to it was and that made it worth it.
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I read this one on my kindle/phone and was able to look at the pictures and newspaper articles no problem but I think if you are going to read this one that you should buy the physical copy. Same with if you are a audiobook fan, unless this one has a full cast, I think it could be a bit difficult to follow.
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This was a super fun and refreshing read. I think that any fans of the mixed media format in a book will find this one just as addicting as I did. Huge thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow and Cara Hunter for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Marked as DNF @ 16% on 9/22/23 | I received a finished copy of this book thanks to the publisher. This did not affect my review in any way.

I was SO excited to read this book because I've had such good success with multi-media formats but this was a huge miss for me. I really loved the concept but the book still needed to be... a story somehow. This was ALL multimedia, letters, transcripts, etc WHICH doesn't have to be a bad thing because The Illuminae Files totally nails this, however, MURDER IN THE FAMILY is too largely a screenplay and I don't want to read a screenplay. I want to read a story.

I did try listening to this as an audiobook first. I don't really have time to sit down and read so audiobooks are always my go-to first and I've read plenty of books that were epistolary and/or multimedia that were amazing on audio! This also wasn't it, but it also wasn't the audiobook's fault. The book was just... boring. There was so much tell, tell, tell, tell and I didn't feel like there was really a plot in the first portion that I read. The book just kept telling the reader about the past instead of telling a story.

I'm not sure this one is for me. Maybe I'll pick up the physical copy someday but I don't know if I'm motivated enough to do that. I did check back in with it while listening to the audio so I could follow along with the artwork but it didn't hook me.

This was REALLY compelling. It was written in a format I’ve never seen before in a book. The book centers around an unsolved murder and a podcast hell bent on solving the crime. The way the podcast hosts set out to solve the crime is what made this book stand out. The whole book was in podcast format, with interviews from people familiar with the case from people who knew the victim, investigators, newspaper clippings, interviews and much more. The point was you the reader trying to solve the case before THEY did.

The ONLY con for this was the ARC format of the newspaper clippings, and a lot of the evidence was impossible to make
out. I had to wait for it to release and the format was much better!

Besides that this was a great book l, it was unique, and it was a true whodunnit that allows the reader to try to solve the murder themselves by presenting them with all the evidence bit by bit. Everyone should read this book because the way it was wrote was absolutely groundbreaking!

Thank you to netgalley and William Morrow for this ARC!

“𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆.”

‘One body. Six experts. Can you solve the case before they do?’ This tag line alone had me SOLD on Cara Hunter’s newest novel, and it did not disappoint.

Although not structured like a regular narrative, Hunter’s storytelling skills in on full display through transcripts of the making of each episode of the series Infamous: Who Killed Luke Ryder, alongside press releases, emails, texts, and various pieces of evidence. Once I got used to the structure, I couldn’t read fast enough. I felt like I was binging a tv series in the best way.; ’m not sure how Hunter managed to keep everything straight and come up with such lifelike sounding documents. I loved how it was possible to read just the episodes first by themselves and then read the reactions/outside emails/texts afterwards, much like you might look up reactions to a series online after bingeing a show. The newspaper articles, written by fictional columnist Ross Leslie, contained clever winks to John Marks’ Keep It in the Family and Hunter’s own Close to Home. I couldn’t help smile at the mentions of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia - it’s always so fun to see your home area represented in a novel. I found that even from the transcripts, which do involve a lot of telling instead of showing, you got to know the characters well and I had many working theories of who was involved in the “last act of a long drama.” These experts have a lot to hide and reveal; much like a good structured tv show that leaves you wanting more, Hunter drops some shocking reveals at the end of each episode, and my jaw dropped a couple of times!

Murder in the Family is a story of searching for truth, digging into the past, deceit, and family relationships. Hunter has received an automatic fan of her work, and I CANNOT wait to see this one adapted for television. Thank you to Harper Collins Canada and NetGalley for the ARC!

Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter is a cold case written in the style of a Netflix documentary. While the story was compelling and there were enough twists to keep me going I found the writing format distracting.
Also included in the story were extras such as newspaper articles, voicemails and text messages. However, I found it hard to read these on my kindle and as such was not able to read these extras.
I do commend the author on providing a unique perspective on a crime thriller. Each revelation leaves you second guessing and it keeps you hooked until the truth of what happened that fateful night is finally revealed.
The mystery behind the murder was compelling and the characters and how they come to solve the murder made for a page-turning read. I do look forward to more books forthcoming from this author.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Killer Crime Club in exchange for an honest review.

Film maker, Guy Howard, works on a new Netflix series, Infamous. The show follows the mysterious death of Luke Ryder, who also happens to be Guy’s stepfather and died when Guy was 10. A team of experts revisit the high-profile investigation, evidence, testimonies to try to crack the case.

The script-style storytelling and media clips help to be fully immersed until the end. Every time I thought I had it figured out, the entire story took a sharp turn.

I like when there are multiple ways of writing a novel. The inclusion of scripts, notes, internet chats, newspaper articles—-they all add to a really good story. I felt that in this instance, it made the whole thing very stilted. There was no underlying flow. I really didn’t get interested until about 3/4 of the way through and even then it seemed pretty obvious. I was hoping for more, but it was ok.

3.5 stars

You can read all of my reviews at Nerd Girl Loves Books.

This is a pretty good epistolary mystery written exclusively as if reading a movie script. In December 2003, Luke Ryder, the stepfather of acclaimed filmmaker Guy Howard (then aged 10), was found dead in the garden of their suburban family home. Luke was babysitting Guy. Luke's two teenage step-daughters found him dead in the back yard, while Guy slept in his room. The children's mother was a suspect but she was at a party that night with a solid alibi. His murder remains unsolved.

Guy is now directing a new Netflix series Infamous, dedicated to investigating--and perhaps solving--the case. The production team and a panel of experts will re-examine testimony, re-interview witnesses, and scour the evidence again to see if anything was missed. As we read, each episode ends on a cliff hanger as more evidence is discovered.

I like reading epistolary books. I think they are a unique way to tell a story. This one was pretty good. I liked all of the twists and turns and "new evidence" discovered, even if most of them led us down a rabbit hole that led nowhere. The reason I marked the rating down was because it was quite evident, at least to me, who the killer was. That took some of the fun out of the book, but i enjoyed reading all of the twists.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and William Morrow Paperbacks. All opinions are my own.

Confusing at times. Weird format. Lots of characters. Some good twists and turns. Overall I was invested but didn’t love.

Top Pick - 4.5 Stars ⭐️

Guy Howard is a filmmaker working with Nick Vincent to compile a group of experts to look into an unsolved murder case from 20 years ago for a true crime TV series. Surprisingly, the case he picks involves his own stepfather, who was killed when Guy was only ten years old. Guy hopes a fresh look at the case will finally give his family some closure. His sisters, however, have doubts, which the reader sees through text messages they send to each other.

Murder in the Family is a fast-paced, twisty thriller told through press releases, emails, text messages, voicemail transcripts, posts to a true crime forum, and other methods. I love books written in this type of format because, for me, it makes them fast-paced and engaging. I am always amazed when such an intriguing mystery can be told in this way. Before the book progresses too far, it becomes evident that some of the experts working on the case have their own secrets and agendas. This leads to several shocking plot twists. Getting to see what was going on behind the scenes and on camera in this fictional true crime documentary, I wished it was one I could actually watch!

There are several characters in the book, but I think there could have been deeper character development for a few of the main players. That would have made this great book even better. I didn’t feel like I got to know all of the key characters of the book. However, the format and the twists made up for it, and I loved this clever, entertaining book.

~ Christine

This was a clever concept that so many readers seemed to love, but it just didn't work for me. Perhaps in a print format it would have, but trying to read all the text messages and news articles proved to be a little clunky on a Kindle. Truthfully, I felt overwhelmed by the number of characters and the massive amounts of info dumping.

I was able to finish it, and I enjoyed some parts, but I would have preferred a more traditionally written story perhaps with dual timelines.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the review copy.

Murder in the Family.

Ok, y’all. This is the coolest book I’ve read in a while. I had never read a collection of artifacts and narratives like this!

We get texts, transcripts, director notes, asides, all of the things.

It read like a really good show on Netflix (hence the premise), and I am here for it!

I literally couldn’t stop reading.

For its ingenuity alone, it’s a 5.

Excuse me while I’m off to check out more by the author. Wow!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.