Wowza! What a cracking debut novel "Sweet Little Lies" is! I defy anyone to start reading this and not be hooked after the first few pages.
Cat Kinsella was always a daddy's girl. When 17 year Maryanne Doyle goes missing in the summer of 1998 Cat's dad denies ever knowing her. However, Cat knows he's lying after seeing him flirting with Maryanne and giving her a lift while she was hitch hiking. Cat's relationship with her dad is never the same again. Whilst working as a DC in London eighteen years later, Cat is involved in the investigation of a murdered woman found near her father's pub. When evidence begins to link the death to Maryanne, Cat can't help but have doubts about her father again. Could he be a murderer?
Children are so trusting and believing of grown ups, so it's quite understandable that Cat felt the way she did after her father denied knowing Maryanne. But with unbreakable family bonds, can Cat come clean about what she knows about her father and will she ever forgive him for originally lying to the police? There's a tremendous storyline to this book that has quite a disturbing main plot to it but it's a superbly crafted police procedural with some interesting and well portrayed characters. Cat is particularly compelling, so natural and human you can't help but her. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend "Sweet Little Lies", you'll be glued to the pages and won't be able to put it down.
I can see why this book won a Richard and Judy competition - it's a brilliant debut novel written by Caz Frear, a refreshing new author with boundless talents and excellent writing skills.
A well deserved 5 stars. readers-first143 s Diane S ?4,855 14.3k

A big sigh of relief!! I am having much better luck with the police procedurals I am reading. Enjoying my break, really who knows if or when I'll go back, from psychological thrillers. Love this debut novel from Frear. Cat Kinsella, is such a great character, flawed but so very genuine, real. A London based DC, when the novel opens, she is trying to recover from a horrifying crime scene, seeing the department's psychiatrist. When a woman is murdered, it brings Cat back into action. This murder will take her back into her past, and she fears she knows who is involved.

Trails go back and forth from Ireland to London, and their crime connections. What I most enjoyed in this novel, was watching how Kat changes, grows. The scenes are vivid, the atmosphere rather dark and bleak, and the characterizations are wonderfully constructed. The case is intriguing and the look into Kat's past, interesting. The ending was also unexpected, how it all ties together very fitting, and the conclusion both different and satisfying.

I'm hoping this is the start of a new series, as I am very interested to see where the author takes Cat next.

Also, this was my first successful audio of a fiction book. The narrator was Jane Collingwood and I thought she was awesome.

ARC from Edelweiss.118 s Larry H2,655 29.6k

"Some fears can never be shared. Some fears are so cataclysmic that to share them would be tantamount to suicide."

When Cat was eight years old, Maryanne Doyle, a pretty teenager from the Irish town where Cat's family was on holiday, disappeared. Cat and her older sister were both reasonably obsessed with Maryanne, as was nearly every male in town.

While no one could figure out where Maryanne could have gone, Cat knew one thing: her father told a lie when he said he didn't know anything about Maryanne or her disappearance. And their relationship was never the same after that day.

Eighteen years later, Cat is a Detective Constable with London's Metropolitan Police Force. Still a little on edge after the troubling end to her last case, she is quickly thrown into a new case, this one dealing with the murder of a young wife named Alice Lapaine. Cat and her colleague believe Alice's husband is the prime suspect in her murder once more and more information is uncovered about their relationship, but all that changes when the police department receives a phone call which links Alice to Maryanne Doyle.

Cat doesn't know what to do. When she starts putting the facts together, including the fact that Alice's body was found not far from the pub her father runs, she wonders if the suspicions she's had about her father all these years really were warranted. Could her father really have been responsible for Maryanne's disappearance? Could he have harmed Alice, too? If she divulges her connections to Maryanne, she'll be taken off the case, and the more that she gets involved, the more she puts her job at risk. But the more she tries to get to the bottom of her father's involvement, the more danger she's in of ruining their relationship—and her relationship with the rest of her family—for good.

The deeper the police force digs into the cases, the more twists and secrets they uncover. Cat wants to help solve the cases and bring the killers to justice, but at the same time, she's afraid of what she might find out.

Sweet Little Lies is a great read—tremendously compelling, full of many twists and turns that keep you guessing, even though I had a few suspicions that proved warranted. Cat is a fascinating character, desperate for approval, craving love and stability, and yet unwavering when she believes someone has done something wrong. (She's not quite as vigilant about her own transgressions, but hey, she's human.)

I thought the book started a little slowly, but once it picked up steam I couldn't get enough of it. Caz Frear is a terrific storyteller, and it's hard to believe this is her first book. I saw this listed somewhere with the subtitle "Cat Kinsella, #1," so I'm hoping another book with Cat is in the works.

There are so many mysteries and crime novels out there, but Sweet Little Lies is definitely worth adding to your list. Plus, if you're a Fleetwood Mac fan, not being able to get the song "Lies" out of your head while you read might be an added bonus!!

See all of my at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com, or check out my list of the best books I read in 2017 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2017.html.113 s James ThaneAuthor 9 books6,991

At the center of this excellent debut novel is a twenty-six-year-old London police woman named Cat Kinsella. Estranged from her family, her father in particular, she lives alone in a tiny room, devoting her life to her work as a homicide detective while she's haunted by developments that occurred eighteen years earlier when she was a child on vacation with her family in Ireland.

While on that vacation, Cat and her older sister, Jacqui, struck up a friendship with a budding teenage girl named Maryanne Doyle. Just before Cat's family left Ireland, Maryanne suddenly disappeared, never to be seen again. Cat knows that her randy father, a tavern owner and a minor fixer for a crime boss, had been with Maryanne just before she disappeared, although her father steadfastly denied it when the family was questioned by the police in the wake of Maryanne's disappearance. In the years since, Cat has been tormented by the fear that her father may have had something to do with the girl going missing. This has been the source of a great deal of tension between her and her father, even though she has never really articulated her suspicions to him.

Fast forward to the present day when a young married woman named Alice Lapaine is found strangled in London, not far from the tavern that Cat's father still operates. Cat's team is assigned to investigate the case, and initially the victim's husband looks an excellent suspect. But Cat is stunned when the investigation reveals that "Alice Lapaine" is really none other than the long-lost Maryanne Doyle.

Cat knows that she should immediately come clean with her supervisors about her link to the victim, especially since the body was found so close to her father's establishment. But no one else on the team makes the connection and Cat struggles to maintain the secret while she attempts to unravel the twin mysteries of where Maryanne Doyle has been all these years and how she's wound up murdered now.

This is a very dark and moody story, part psychological suspense novel and part police procedural. Cat Kinsella is a complex and interesting protagonist, and Frear expertly weaves a complex plot that offers up one surprise after another. The settings are very well done. My only concern about the book was the huge coincidence that would have the long-gone girl, Maryanne Doyle, turn up dead and Cat Kinsella be assigned the case. ("Of all the gin joints in all the world...")

Still, that's a minor complaint, and I really enjoyed this book a lot. I see it's billed as "Cat Kinsella #1," and I very much hope that we will not have to wait long for #2. This is a fresh and unique character, and I can hardly wait to see where Frear takes her next.crime-fiction107 s MaliaAuthor 7 books622

Even though it feels it took me FOREVER to finish this book, I rather enjoyed it. It was clever with good characterization as well as a compelling plot. It was not as fast-paced as I had expected it would be, but never boring either. I am a fan of mystery books (or books in general) that are really about the characters and the way their story weaves into the plot as a whole, which very much was the case in this one. It reminded me a little of Jane Casey's books, both in terms of the style and the story. So if you, me, are a fan of her books or Tana French or Nicci French, you should give this one a try. I can see it becoming a series and I will definitely keep and eye on this author in the future!

Find more and bookish fun at http://www.princessandpen.commystery-suspense78 s Michelle 974 1,656

Maryanne Doyle was the teenage girl all the others wanted to be. Long raven curls, piercing blue eyes, and a body to die for. When Cat Kinsella met her as a child while on vacation with her family she was in awe of her. She even gave her her most prized possession her Tinkerbell pendant because Maryanne expressed to her how much she loved it.

A few days later Maryanne Doyle disappeared.

Cat's father is questioned in the disappearance but he informs them that he didn't know her. Cat knows he's lying. She was with him when he picked her up hitchhiking. She also witnessed them having and argument in which "blackmail" had come up. Being just a child she bites her tongue and never says anything about her fathers lie but it takes it's toll on their relationship in so many other ways over the years that follow.

Cat is now a detective in London where a beautiful housewife, Alice LaPaine, has been murdered. Her team is investigating how it happened but Cat has cause for concern. Alice's body was found not far from the door to her fathers bar. Is it possible that her father murdered both Maryanne and Alice? You'll have to read it to find out.

I enjoyed this book tremendously. Initially, going in, I thought this was a psychological thriller. My bad for not really reading the synopsis. This is most definitely a police procedural which was such a welcome surprise for me. I tend to go overboard with all the twisty roller coaster psych thrillers that this change of pace came at precisely the right time. Cat Kinsella is a wonderful character, flawed yet likable. I definitely look forward to reading more of this series. For a debut I'd call this quite impressive. 4 stars!

Thank you to Heather @ Harper Collins who was kind enough to send me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

arc-from-publisher66 s megs_bookrack1,812 12.2k

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Twenty-six year old Cat Kinsella is a DC with the Metropolitan Police Force, her dream job. After a less than stellar childhood, Cat has made her own way in the world and tries to keep the past just there; in the past.

As we all know though, the past frequently comes back to haunt us and Cat's about to learn that lesson the hard way.



When Cat gets called to work a murder scene very near the pub that her estranged father still runs, old memories get stirred up, throwing Cat's brain into overdrive.

Additionally, the victim, a housewife named Alice turns out to be very much linked to Maryanne Doyle, a teenage girl who went missing from Ireland almost two decades ago. Is this a coincidence?

Cat's family met Maryanne while they were vacationing in Ireland just before she went missing and Cat has never forgotten her. Maryanne could do that; make an impact.



But the biggest takeaway from that time for Cat, was that her father was a liar and perhaps worse. After Maryanne's disappearance, he was questioned by police and lied to them.

He said he never met the girl and that wasn't true. In fact, her father may have known Maryanne very well; certainly more than he should have.



Cat has always suspected he knew what happened to her and it definitely drove a wedge between them. Could he also be involved with this current case?

Cat has to solve this mystery now, or risk it continuing to haunt her forever. Thus, Cat and her team dig into the investigation. It goes deep and gets twisted.



Sweet Little Lies is the first book in Caz Frear's Cat Kinsella Mystery series. Incidentally, this was a debut novel.

This was also the 7th-book that I picked up for my TBR Haul-Project. I hauled this back in August of 2018, when it was my BOTM pick for the month. I was originally so stoked for it and then it sort of fell off my radar.



I'll admit it took me a little while to really get invested in the mystery, but Frear definitely brought it around in the second half. I think initially I had a hard time keeping track of who was who and what was happening.

the whole Alice / Maryanne thing, I'm not sure if I wasn't paying well enough attention at first, but it took me a minute to get a grasp on that.



Once I started really focusing in on it, the investigation became gripping and intense. Cat's personality, although dry to me initially, really began to grow on me. I'm sure she'll continue to grow as a character in future installments.

I am definitely interested in moving on with this series. Overall, a I found this to be a compelling Police Procedural!

tbr-haul-project59 s Karen1,972 498

Still playing catch up with my . Here is another one, I want to share on Goodreads.

With this one I am excited to say was a wonderful debut novel.

This is a London-based thriller featuring DC Cat Kinsella.

Cat isn't exactly the empathetic type (with live people), but she is with murder victims.

She is a believably flawed, self-deprecating, and quite human character that I really enjoyed.

And she gets along with her older partner - DS Luigi Parnell, a devoted husband and father, who is generally well-d in the department.

As readers, we are dropped right into the middle of a crime scene - and it isn't pretty.

As Cat and her partner dig into the victim's life, something comes up that turn's Cat's life upside down. And this is a spoiler I am not going to share. Just know it has an impact on the story.

As readers we will find that this isn't just a murder mystery with twists (shocking twists, by the way) it's about Cat learning her way into her herself and her career.

All I will say is this, if you haven't read this by now, you might want to put this on your "must read" list soon!captivating creates-questions easy-to-read ...more47 s2 comments Amy2,119 1,934

Nothing really excites me more than when I read a debut that knocks my socks off, and Sweet Little Lies was one hell of a stunning first novel. ItÂ’s mostly a police procedural with a psychological thriller feel to it and itÂ’s also part dark family drama which made for a combination I couldnÂ’t get enough of.

Cat is a detective who has made her job her life, nothing earth shattering there, but the complexity with which Frear developed her made her a standout character, the type I wonÂ’t soon forget. Her past is intriguing, especially her relationship with her father and trying to decide if her memories from her childhood related to her current case was so fascinating. You have the recollections of an eight year old child, isnshe even remembering things exactly as they happened or is it all muddled up with time and age? A constant guessing game and one that I totally failed, Frear delivered in the end and totally pulled the wool over my eyes.

This does require a tiny bit of patience for readers who only enjoy fast paced narratives, I love a good old slow burn when the payoff is worth it and it totally was here. Just when I thought things were all wrapped up with a neat bow Frear shook me up again and delivered a new shock, sheÂ’s GOOD not only at characterization and plotting one hell of a story but also at writing, plain and simple. ThereÂ’s some sardonic humor and wit sprinkled in to a mostly sharp style, a lethal combination that gets me every time. I see Goodreads says this is the first in a series and I couldnÂ’t be happier, I would love to read more about Cat!

Sweet Little Lies in three words: Assured, Cunning and Authentic.

physical-arcs43 s Darinda8,687 152

Cat Kinsella is a detective. Her latest case has a connection to her past, and brings back old memories. When Cat was a little girl, a teenager named Maryanne went missing. Cat and her family had recently met Maryanne, and Cat has always suspected her father knew something about Maryanne's disappearance. Cat's newest case has a connection to Maryanne, and Cat wants to finally uncover what happened to Maryanne.

This appears to be a fantastic new crime fiction series. At least, I hope it is going to be a series. Cat Kinsella is a detective, and has some great qualities found in female protagonists in this genre - smart, tough, and determined. Of course, Cat has some personal issues to overcome as well, making her a realistic and compelling character.

The mystery was intriguing, and has just the right amount of twistiness. Great for fans of British crime fiction. Slow-burning, dark, and clever.mystery mystery-crime38 s Ova - Excuse My Reading489 369

It took me very long to get into the story with this, the start was long and untidy I think, however the last half of the book gets the tension up and story gets very interesting.
I wish I could give 3.5 stars or (7 out of 10)

I loved the ending.

Full review soon! (fingers crossed)audible crime thriller ...more38 s Rachel (not currently receiving notifications) Hall1,047 85

As family Christmases go, asking your father if he has an alibi before the turkey has even been digested might seem a little ill-advised. For everyone but DC Cat Kinsella that is, whose relationship with her father, Michael McBride, saw him go from hero to zero when as a trusting eight-year-old and the apple of his eye she discovered he had lied. Seventeen-years-later it is this single event that has influenced the course of their relationship, left Cat with a boat load of hang-ups and ensured that the McBride clan are as dysfunctional as they come. The scars of that summer holiday of 1998 to Mulderrin, on the west coast of Ireland, have left Cat short of trust and a rather chippy madam with a fierce loyalty to her now deceased mother, a fractious relationship with her father and a firm belief in seeing justice delivered and criminals punished. All Cat knows for sure is that the fateful holiday coincided with local seventeen-year-old, Maryanne Doyle, disappearing from the village and her father denying even knowing the girl, let alone giving her a lift to town, flirting with her and being involved in a ‘heated disagreement’ with her. With Maryanne still missing all these years later, the doubts about her father's involvement in events and his questionable business practices has set in motion a bitter enmity that has left Cat spoiling for a fight. As for concrete facts though, Cat is in the dark and whilst supposition, theories, and conjecture remain, when all is said and done, she has no proof of her father's involvement, but it doesn’t stop the niggling doubts lingering.

Now twenty-six-years old, a DC in the Met and after freezing at a crime scene DC Cat Kinsella is clinging by her fingertips to her place on the Murder Investigation Team and attending compulsory police counselling sessions. As Cat contemplates how to avoid a family Christmas, her team are called out in the early hours of the morning to the discovery of a woman's body, identified as thirty-five-year-old Alice Lapaine, of Thames Ditton. Found strangled to death with evidence of knife wounds, her body is discovered behind Exmouth Market and within spitting distance of where Cat spent the first eight-years of her life, residing above the pub her father ran. And the very bad news is that her father is now back as resident landlord once again, therefore posing the question, is his proximity to this second crime an uncanny coincidence or something decidedly fishy? As connections between Maryanne Doyle and the deceased Alice Lapaine surface, a jittery Cat sees herself faced with choosing either her family or her job and weighing up potential charges of misconduct in a public office and perverting the course of justice by keeping her bosses, DS Luigi Parnell, and supportive queen of comical put-downs, DCI Kate Steele, in the dark.

Brimming with an eclectic and humorous cast, Sweet Little Lies is essentially a straightforward police procedural but coloured by an emotive psychological angle with CatÂ’s personal involvement in the case. Cat is a feisty and determined young woman with a softer side as evidenced by the guilt she feels at deceiving her colleagues and the worry that her dilemma unleashes. Frequently cynical and often flippant, she deflects every awkward situation with a wealth of humour, however Caz Frear never neglects her plot, which is cram packed full of jaw-dropping twists at every turn. Initial concerns that the bawdy humour might overwhelm the plot proved completely unfounded and what actually ensues is a gritty and intriguing investigation. Detailing the revelations that come to light risks spoiling the enjoyment of other readers, but expect some pretty sinister disclosures and a potential romantic interest for Cat. But as to whether Michael McBride is involvedÂ… watch and wait! Of the characters involved, the one who I felt a little at odds with was the deceased Alice Lapaine, albeit only described in the past tense, but she seemed rather sterile and left me questioning the plausibility of her awkward marital circumstances and recent history.

With well-timed fleeting flashbacks after every unexpected discovery to the holiday in Mulderrin, there are some witty reminders of the late 1990s trends, from the clothes right through to the music of the era and Caz Frear manages a highly convincing presentation of an eight-year-old CatÂ’s voice, something that frequently escapes even the most well established authors. Packed with incisive humour and authentic dialogue which evoked memories of Belinda Bauer, despite the eventual unravelling stretching credibility somewhat, Sweet Little Lies is teeming with feel-good enthusiasm and an absolute pleasure to read. I look forward to seeing if Caz Frear follows this stunning debut up with another DC Cat Kinsella investigation, although my concern is that without the personal involvement of CatÂ’s father, it may be hard to match the high stakes element. However, on the strength of this belting page-turner, I wouldnÂ’t bet against it! A gripping mix of lies, suspicion and genuine intrigue with excellent characterisation and a roller coaster plot. Recommended!34 s Sandra262 60

Sweet Little Lies is my first audio book for 2020. The story was aptly set in London over the Christmas period.
DC Cat Kinsella is quite new to the job of DC and had a bit of a tough time during a previous case she worked on. Reluctantly she has agreed to seek help from a therapist.
Just before Christmas, a body of a woman is found in Leamington Square gardens near to the public house her estranged father runs. After days of investigating they get a tip off that there is a link to an old case, eighteen years previous, a young girl called Maryanne Doyle disappeared.
Maryanne Doyle once lived in Mulderrin, Ireland. The same village CatÂ’s grandmother lived and the same village she spent a summer, with her mother, father and siblings when she was 8 years old...... and the same summer Maryanne disappeared!
Does Cat know more than she realises and can she unravel the complex web of truth and lies?
Good plot with a satisfying number of twists and well developed characters.
The audible version was narrated well.thrillers-uk34 s Bernadette112 60

Thank you Caz Frear for writing my kind of mystery! I absolutely loved this debut police procedural. Sweet Little Lies brought to mind Tana French and her Dublin Murder Series. Frear’s book takes place in London, with glimpses of Mulderran, Ireland, where an alleged abduction and murder took place decades ago. Met Police Detective Constable Cat Kinsella was a child when Maryanne Doyle disappeared from the Irish vacation spot. Cat, now in her mid-twenties, has always been convinced that someone very close to her had a hand in the disappearance, and later a murder. Cat is a complex character who comes from a family of what might be called “lowlifes.” Growing up, the family lived above, and hung out in her father’s bar where her father’s associates included known mob figures. Her handsome father was a poor excuse for a husband to Cat’s deceased mom and has always had a penchant for much too young women. Un Cat, her siblings accept their dad’s immoral behaviors. Cat’s career choice in law enforcement pushes her even further away from the family. She leads a self-imposed life of isolation and work and appears uninterested in changing. Since her life is dominated by work, Frear introduces us to Cat’s work colleagues, who are as interesting as her family members. The suspects and tertiary characters are intriguing and provocative.

If youÂ’re looking for an addictive mystery or police procedural, pick up Sweet Little Lies. IÂ’m already looking for a way to get my hands on the second book in this series (if anyone sees it on NetGalley or elsewhere, please let me know!). FrenchÂ’s books, I immediately want to devour the next in the series itÂ’s not scheduled for publication until June 2019.33 s Crime by the Book192 1,817

4.5/5 stars for this masterful procedural from a talented debut crime writer. There’s something about the tried-and-true police procedural that always keeps me coming back for more—and finding an author who can write a police procedural in as fresh, modern a way as can Caz Frear is a genuine treat.

Read my full review on the CBTB blog! http://crimebythebook.com/blog/2018/9...32 s Linda1,420 1,515

Caz Frear, forgive me.

I walked backwards into this series. Sorta putting your socks on over your shoes. I grabbed Shed No Tears #3 when it came out and was smitten with Cat Kinsella. The Book Angels slid a copy of Stone Cold Heart #2 my way and I was delighted. And after much searching, Sweet Little Lies #1 made its way to my shelf. All caught up and waiting anxiously for #4.....just picturing you finalizing that one.

Here's the deal with Cat Kinsella. She's a twenty-six year old detective constable working with the Metropolitan Police in London. Cat is still a work in progress overcoming a very iffy childhood with a father who leans toward the illegal side of the street in his comings and goings. She's in constant friction with her sister and brother and throws herself into her work. Not much time for a social life or a better place to lay her head at night.

But sometimes worlds collide. DCI Steele has just put her on a new case involving a strangling victim. In order to take on the new assignment, Cat must undergo sessions with the police counselor. Cat witnessed a recent mind-blowing case in which the remnants still haunt her. She's anxious to take on the new case which shows parallels to a crime committed years ago. Cat still imagines that her father was somehow involved. There's a tug-o-war inside herself with daughter/police officer issues.

Caz Frear has created an honest, in-your-face, don't-care-what-you-think main character with Cat Kinsella. I think we all enjoy an ongoing storyline in which the focus character has many personal demons creeping about. Caz Frear gives life to Cat with quirky dialogue and comeback lines. Our girl lives and breathes as a detective and she certainly has the eye for it.

Consider your approach into this series. Backwards or forwards, it's a winner.mystery-thrillers police-procedural31 s Lisa - OwlBeSatReading367

Here's a slightly different than normal review. Because this is a very different from normal police procedural crime novel.
I won't go through the synopsis because you can read it for yourselves, but I recommend this to ALL MY FOLLOWERS WHO LOVE BRITISH CRIME.

Thoughts
Wow! Was this really a debut?
How can a 'first timer' be this good?
How long did it take to establish such awesome characters for a first book? Very impressive.
Is Caz Frear writing another?
And if so, when?
This doesn't read a debut.
It must of took some long and deep thought processes to create all these incredible people in the story.
I loved everyone for so many different reasons.
The intricacies of the whole story were simply complex, if that makes sense.
I love Cat Kinsella.
I need more of this kind of stuff.

Ok, the above ramblings needed to be off-loaded, because I absolutely loved this book! I'd reached page 46, and was thinking, this could be an average crime-mystery police procedural read. But then there was this;

'Prepping the incident board are man-mountain DS Pete Flowers and blade-thin DC Craig Cooke - aka the Feast and the Famine.'

That alone, made me grin so much! So inventive! Characters that are given a personal and humorous persona from other characters POV's before we even know them properly. I that. I that A LOT.

Caz Frear is a brilliant writer. She really attached the characters and story to my nosyness. I felt as though these people were so real! It gripped me quickly. There was mystery a-plenty, and I was hooked from about page 50. That is good going for me, I can tell you.

I absolutely loved this all the way through. And heading towards the very satisfying conclusion this little beauty of the New Years Eve scenario just grabbed me and had me nodding in agreement;

'I've never subscribed to the cult of New Years Eve. Never grasped the fascination. All that reflecting on the past and hoping for the future always strikes me as a profoundly bad idea when you've been poisoning your body for seven days straight, and your nervous system's shot to pieces by marathon-style boozing and energy-sapping grub'.

Oh how bloody true. I couldn't agree more. Cat Kinsella, will you be my friend?

A very deserving 4 stars out of 5.

I'd to thank Readers First and the author, Caz Frear for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review


crime mystery30 s Book of the Month280 14.6k Read

Why I Love It
by Louisa Luna

As the author of a mystery-thriller with a tough but damaged female protagonist, I thought this story about a detective with a troubled past was familiar territory and was confident I would see the twists coming a hundred pages out. Um, not the case. Sweet Little Lies surprised me over and over again.

While investigating a seemingly routine murder case in London, Detective Constable Cat Kinsella is drawn into a maze of cover-ups reaching all the way back to the disappearance of a teenage girl 18 years prior. But whatÂ’s even more unsettling than a two-decade-old mystery is that Cat has never been able to shake the feeling that her gangster father was involved in the crime. Now, Cat can no longer ignore the past as the clock ticks for her to find the killer.

When I finished Sweet Little Lies after a 48-hour binge of subway-reading, ignoring-bossÂ’s-phone-calls-at-day-job-reading, crossing-the-street-reading (not recommended), late-night-after-kid-goes-to-bed-reading, I did a thing I do with my favorite mysteries: I went back to the beginning and read the first 20 pages again. Only then did I realize Caz FrearÂ’s mastery, how the seemingly non-magic beans she dropped along the way grew into gloriously unpredictable and yet completely satisfying intertwined stalks of character and plot. Not only did this book keep me guessing until the end, it was also a sharp portrait of the many ways in which parents and children hurt and save each other. Fans of Tana French will love this. I did.

Read more at: https://www.bookofthemonth.com/sweet-... 27 s Kristy1,155 166

Young Detective Constable Catrina (Cat) Kinsella hasn't had the easiest of lives--she didn't get along well with her father and her mother has since passed away. At twenty-six, Cat is in counseling after a traumatic incident while on the job, and she spends most of her nights alone, plagued by insomnia. She isn't close to her family, including her father, sister, or brother. Her latest case is that of thirty-five-year old Alice Lapaine, who is found murdered and dumped in Leamington Square. Alice too led a solitary life, spending weeks away from her husband, Thomas, who quickly becomes the team's top suspect. But then they receive a call--Alice isn't Alice, but rather Maryanne Doyle, a teenager who went missing in Ireland nearly twenty years ago. Suddenly, Cat's world is upside down. After all, she knew Maryanne, whom her family met while visiting Cat's grandmother when Cat was eight. And Cat has always suspected her father had something to do with Maryanne's sudden disappearance. Cat chooses not to tell her DCI about the linkages between Maryanne and her father, but this choice may have serious consequences: for Cat, her career, and her entire family.

"I feel it's necessary to make clear that I know nothing about what happened to Maryanne Doyle, the girl who went to Riley's for hairspray and never came back. I have my suspicions, of course. I speculate plenty, especially after white wine. But when it comes right down to it, I actually know nothing. The same cannot be said of my father."

This was an interesting, complicated tale. The mystery aspect of it was actually really fascinating, with the linkages slowly building between Alice and Maryanne, as we try to figure out what happened between Maryanne disappearing as a teen, her becoming Alice and then winding up murdered. Overall, I really enjoyed that part of the book. Frear has a lot of good surprises for us, and I was kept guessing for most of the novel.

The personal side of the book was a little harder for me. Don't get me wrong, I did Cat. She certainly is a complicated character. I have to admit that characters that don't tell the truth or narratives that revolve around this aspect of keeping the truth hidden can be a bit of a pet peeve of mine. So basically an entire book that involves the main character keeping such a big secret (my Dad knew my murder victim, who was found a few paces outside the pub he owns)--that was tough for me. The more involved Cat gets in her case and the more entwined the case becomes with her own life and past: ugh. It all felt a little wrong and icky for me.

Honestly, I probably would have enjoyed this book more if the personal ties to Cat weren't there, or weren't so strong. I recognize they existed to give her depth and add more to the story and case, but they just made me uncomfortable and almost added an extra layer to the mystery that I felt wasn't necessary. Things were already twisty enough, it seemed as we didn't need this whole additional convoluted element with Cat's family. But maybe that's just me and my aversion to lying and such. (I don't even when this happens in movies and eventually you know it's all going to come out and bad things will happen.)

This is not a simple book, and the story told is a perplexing and sophisticated one: you really have to be ready to follow along. On the plus side, it's original, and the characters are rather unique. I'm intrigued that it looks Cat will be part of a series. I did this book, even if some elements were a little harder for me to enjoy, and it was well-written. I'd certainly pick up the next book in a series and perhaps if her family wasn't so entwined in her case, enjoy it even more. 3.5 stars for this one.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher and Edelweiss in return for an unbiased review (thank you!).

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I had heard good things about Sweet Little Lies so of course I had to check it out to see what it was .
Sweet Little Lies is the winner of the Richard & Judy Search for a Bestseller competition and I can see how it won. Packed with unreliable narrators, twisty and with plenty of diffferent themes and avenues explored it definitely follows the psych thriller rules in that sense!

Caz Frear has a great writing style, and a knack for creating characters that the reader will love to hate I think. One thing that made me smile was reading about my hometown and a nightclub from the 1990Â’s. I love feeling a connection that when IÂ’m reading, and its not often that Galway gets a mention!
Sweet Little Lies is an interesting tale. It has good plot and divisive characters and it deals well in showing how relationships and secrets can destroy lives.

Recommended!24 s pelaio228 55

Me ha gustado, está francamente bien. Además, cosa rara, me ha caído bien la detective Cat Kinsella y también el sargento Parnell, y hasta la jefa Steele jajajajaja. Como he visto por ahí que hay además otro libro que le sigue a este, el 2º de la serie, (Corazón despiadado) alla que voy a por él. Recomendable. Pd: me he despistado y le había puesto 2 estrellas, son 4 estrellas. Mil perdones
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