I really struggled with the layout out of the book reading like a script, etc. The book itself is good. The style is just not for me. I think I would have enjoyed an audio version better.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this arc.

I liked how quick the book read, I wish I could actually watch this unfold on tv instead of just reading it! There were a lot of twists I wasn’t expecting, but I really enjoyed. Overall, this was a good book, and I would recommend it to others.

Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter @williammorrowbooks I had so much fun reading this! Utterly unique! I loved the format and the twists.

This review contains spoilers, sort of.

3.5 stars... I thought it was pretty good. I knew who the killer was pretty early on. I just had a feeling even when they were going through all the suspects. I felt like it was an interesting and intriguing story, however the killer being who I thought was a major let down because it was just too boring of an outcome for how wild of a ride it was to get there.

A mind-blowing and TWISTY true crime reality show slash cold case murder mystery that was AMAZING on audio with a full cast of narrators! This is a must read for true crime lovers. Unique and unputdownable. I can't recommend enough and want to watch this as a movie IMMEDIATELY!! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review. Just go into this one blindly and thank me later!

This story is told in true crime style about an unsolved murder 20 years ago. I found the way it is told truly unique and made the story. There are a lot of twists and turns and I thought it was a great thriller which I read quickly. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

Guy is an aspiring filmmaker who decides to work with this production company to film a series about a cold case involving his own family. In 2003 Luke Ryder, the stepfather of Guy Howard, was found dead in the garden of their nice home. The 3 children were at the house but all of them say they can’t remember what happened. There was a police investigation that yielded nothing and no suspects. While filming this series the truth comes out with many shocking twists and turns. Everyone is shocked when someone is arrested and it turns out it was the wrong person.
This book is written in emails and dialogs from the tv series. I was not crazy about the format of the book, however I really did enjoy this read. I did not expect the ending of the book. I enjoyed that it made you believe certain people were the killer and then a very shocking twist at the end. The book defiantly kept my attention and I wasn’t really expecting that due to the format.

Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter is a gripping mystery. Twenty years ago Luke Ryder's dead body was found in the backyard of the family home. The case was never solved.

Now, Guy Howard, Luke Ryder's step-son, is directing a multiple episode documentary trying to solve the cold case. They have compiled a group of experts in different areas of crime solving, and are going back over all of the evidence, re-interviewing witnesses, and finally getting the family on the record about what happened that night. As they start going back through all the case files and digging into everything, they begin unearthing details that had never been found before. From there, they keep pulling threads and everything starts unraveling. Episode by episode, more and more secrets are exposed. Who was Luke Ryder? Who would want to kill him, and why? What really happened that night?

The book was formatted like a script, with each chapter being an episode of the documentary. I didn't realize I would be reading a screenplay, which took a little bit to get used to. Once that happened, though, the book went relatively quickly.

All in all, it was a gripping mystery with a lot of cliffhangers and surprises. If you enjoy putting together the pieces of a mystery puzzle, then you will probably enjoy this novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow Books for a digital copy of Murder in the Family for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

DNF at 28%. I am totally drawn in by a premise of a cold case being investigated in a documentary - I will pick that book up EVERY time I see it. I also enjoy when books have a multimedia element or epistolary - just something different. I had high hopes for this one on both counts but unfortunately it just really didn’t work for me. The way the dialogue was written out for the episodes felt very clunky. So many characters I was often having to remind myself who was who. I just couldn’t get into this one. If you decide to give it a try - I would recommend trying on paper instead of kindle. That might help. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook.

First,
I loved how this book was formatted. The dialogue, the images, the “documents”, made the reading experience SO fun! I loved all of the different aspects that were added, like the resumes, the comment sections, the news headlines, even how they explained the “reenactments”. It was very well done!

There were a couple things I didn’t love. The story itself did get a bit confusing at times, but that may just be the nature of this particular plot. Also, the way this was written made me feel a bit disconnected from the characters, however I was much more immersed in the story and the puzzle-solving of it all, so this could just be a personal preference.

Overall, an excellent true-crime type of twist to a classic “whodunnit” thriller!

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. 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.

I love books written in this type of format and thought the story was fast-paced and engaging. It becomes evident that some of the experts working on the case have their own secrets and agendas, leading to several shocking plot twists. Getting to see what was going on behind the scenes and on camera of 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. I would rate it 4.5 stars.

I received an advance copy of this ebook from NetGalley and William Morrow Books at no cost, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.

In December 2003 Luke Ryder was found dead in his garden, his wife, stepson and stepdaughters had to make peace with the fact that they'd never know the truth of what happened to Luke. That is until twenty years late which is the present time.
Infamous, a new Netflix documentary aims to crack this famous cold case and shed some light on Luke Ryder's life.
The production team of experts re-examine the evidence and looks to find new lines of enquiry to get to the bottom of this mysterious murder. Every episode ends on a cliffhanger leaving the audience gripped and the experts under fire.
Whatever your theory, you won't see this ending coming.

I love a crime thriller and this one was really good. The format of Murder in the Family worked excellently with the TV show plot. The book was written like a transcript with newspaper cuttings, articles, pictures, text messages and phone messages that gave an authentic and exciting feel.
There were some really great twists in the plot with an excellent conclusion.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Murder in the Family
Cara Hunter

This book purports to be more or less about the filming of a docu-drama about the murder of Luke Ryder, unsolved for twenty years. Guy Howard, the victim's step-son, is the filmmaker making this multi-part series for the "global hit" Infamous.

The story is written in texts and emails and scripts etc back and forth among all the different key players in the original case as well as experts in Crime Scene Investigation. Unfortunately, for me the jumble of presentations was confusing and off-putting. I lost track – and then lost interesting by about half way through the book.

Maybe younger, more technically savvy readers may enjoy this format. I did not.

Guy Howard has suffered many tragedies in his life but the one involving his stepdad‘s murder is the one that haunts him the most. At the age of 10 his two sisters 13 and 14 years old came home to find their stepdad dead in the front yard and although his mom was first accused that was never the evidence to prove her guilt and so the crime went unsolved. Now it’s 20 years later and they want to do a show to re-look at the Crime and guy is all for it but he has no idea what implications it will have on his life and those he loves. When his mom married a guy 14 years younger than her it was a scandal in the high society neighborhood but when he was found bludgeoned to death the Hennepin more to talk about as they start to investigate the crime they will have mini twist and turns. Not everyone is as they pretend to be an even the people who agreed to re-investigate the unsolved murder will eventually turn on each other. This book does as the summary claims read like True Crime and what a great book it was with many twists and turns there is no way any lover of thrillers and mysteries will be able to look away while reading A Murder In The Family by Kera Hunter. I want to think HarperCollins UK, William Monroe and met Kelly for my free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

I just loved the epistolary format of this book! It was such a fun way to digest this mystery! Told through newspaper articles, text messages, emails, voicemails, interviews and online chats this author really covered the entire gambit!

This is a story told in 6 episodes of a true crime series. This particular cold case is about a man named Luke Ryder who was murdered at home. Luke’s wife, and two stepdaughters were all at home, yet saw nothing. After many years no clues arise and the case goes cold. This case is one no one will forget so once the case is revisited soon new detail emerge and the truth comes out!

I would highly recommend reading this book in a physical or ecopy so you can see all the fun pictures of how the author presents this information. This really felt like a real docuseries. What a masterpiece! There are a lot of characters in this book which took me a hot second to keep straight but once I did it worked out well! There were a lot of surprising twists I didn’t see coming. This book was clever, unique, brilliant, genius and a masterly crafted experience. Well done Cara! I loved it!

4.5 stars

Written in episodic fashion, this book is the perfect coupling of How to Make a Murder meets Clue!!!

Guy decides he wants to try and solve a 20 year old cold case involving his family by bringing together a cast of experts to try and breath new life into the stalled investigation of the murder of his stepfather. The catch is, the cast will be filmed for a Netflix show while working through the case and their discoveries, creating a virtual true crime podcast reality show, catching every reaction as the case unfolds.

"Filmed" in 8 episodes, the storytelling was uniquely told through newspaper clippings, forum chat room conversations, text messages, emails, voicemails, interviews, and episode dialogue between the cast members. It took me a minute to get into the narration style but once I did I quite enjoyed it! It becomes easy for the reader to visualize watching each episode as the story progresses, complete with cliffhangers to end chapters/episodes. My only qualm was some of the "print" was quite small/faint on my e-reader causing some strain for these over age 40 eyes. I hope in the final format they make it slightly easier to see, as I did think the inclusion of all of this was quite creative.

As the twists in the plot are revealed, some moral questions are posed regarding these types of stories/series and I think they are good and valid questions. Definitely causes the reader to ponder where does one draw the line between entertainment and privacy? Does one give up their privacy for the sake of good television? I appreciated the misdirection, the suspicion that arises as truths are revealed, and the heartbreaking conclusion that ultimately results.

Highly recommend for those who enjoy true crime narratives, police procedurals, and podcasts.

Opening this book deep into hot strike summer (now fall) and seeing a fake call sheet nearly made me cry. BUT once I got over how much I miss the sight of a call sheet, I was fully invested in Cara Hunter’s Murder in the Family from chapter 1.
A mix of call sheets, production notes, emails, interview transcripts, reddit threads, voicemail transcriptions, and texts this multimedia format was so well done and fun that I was never distracted by it and instead was fully drawn into this engaging thriller. It truly felt as though I was watching the production of a Netflix true crime series unfold. Some will say it’s gimmicky, but I was not put off by the clever format at all.

Every time you, or the fictional viewers at home think they know who did it, you’re all dead wrong.

Are the twists and turns absolutely bonkers? YES. Did I want to throttle a few characters? YOU’RE DAGGONE RIGHT I DID!

Honestly, I saw the final twist coming but the meatier middle of the story WTF moment, I absolutely was blindsided by, and had put my kindle down to regroup.

This was clever as heck, and well executed. I highly recommend reading a physical copy if possible or on your chosen e-reader. I was reading some of this via my Kindle App on my phone and nearly had to pull out a magnifying glass to catch some of the details.

I didn't realize until starting this book that it's written in the format of a TV show transcript with articles, text messages, voicemail transcripts, and message board threads at the end of each episode/chapter. There's no narrative other than the episodes and the various forms of responses to them. Had I known that, I probably would have assumed I wouldn't enjoy it, but it actually really worked for me! Gleaning the story through all of the different writings had an almost epistolary feel to it. I read it with a friend, and it was super fun to chat after each episode/chapter and compare notes about who we thought the killer was! This would be a great choice for book clubs that like true crime or crime fiction that reads like true crime!

Murder in the Family centers around the murder of Guy's step father Luke. The case has yet to be solved. Guy was only ten when the murder happened

Now Guy is a grown up and the case is being featured on "Infamous: Who killed Luke Ryder?"

The case itself was very interesting and kept me guessing throughout. Just when I thought I figured it out another twist was revealed.

I struggled to get into this one because of the format. It is shown in many different media formats. Some of the content was difficult to read in kindle format. I suspect it will be easier to read in a hard copy. Unfortunately, this format took away some enjoyment of the story for me. I prefer a more traditional format in books.

I enjoyed the characters, mystery and twists.

I'm giving it 3 stars because I didn't enjoy the format. If told in a different way I would have rated it $ stars.

Thanks to netgalley and William Morrow for the arc.

If you are looking to read something in a unique, innovative format, then this book is for you. Told almost entirely in an interview format, with some newspaper articles and social media mixed in, this book examines a 20-year-old cold case. Guy Howard, a filmmaker, decides to resurrect the unsolved murder of his stepfather Luke Ryder as part of a reality tv series. As a result, various people with ties to the murder case are brought together to reexamine evidence and testimony to see if they can solve the mystery of who killed Luke Ryder.

Each chapter is an episode of the reality tv series, and just like a serial program, each chapter ends on an important cliff hanger to keep the reader turning the pages. This was a quick read with plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader's attention and draw them into the murder investigation. I'd highly recommend checking this one out.

Thank you to William Morrow for the opportunity to read and review.