Sweet Little Lies by Caz Frear

This is a completely absorbing book from the get go.  Caz Frear has created a completely believable world and it is very hard to believe that she hasn't done her time slogging foot leather as part of the Met.  In her acknowledgements she plays down her research but this book lives and breathes so she whatever she did it worked exceptionally well.

Cat Killean is a completely believable character who has her foibles and her personal demons but who never strays in to the damaged detective which is such a find trope of other writers.  When staying with her maternal grandmother a teenager, Maryanne Doyle, goes missing and Cat is convinced her father has something to do with it.  After all, daddy knows some seriously dodgy people and has definitely been involved in some dodgy dealings even before he moved the family to a rather more salubrious Hertfordshire town than his London pub.

Still reeling from a murder investigation involving a young child and whilst taking mandated therapy she is called out to a murder a stones throw from her dad's pub.  Alice Lapaine has been murdered and dumped in quiet, Georgian Leamington Square and she can't help but wonder if daddy dearest, or his acquaintances, have been involved.

Full of twists and turns you never lose the sense of just how hard it is to find the truth let alone bring it to justice.  The pacing of the novel is perfect and the frustration when leads turn in to dead ends is beautifully crafted and in some places you are genuinely transported in to these characters.  Even the bit part players have full characters that although only hinted at you just know that these are real people just doing their job and indulging in the office banter that is surely needed to keep you same.

If you have ever read a police procedural and enjoyed it I am sure you will absolutely love this book.  Quirky, warm, humourous and takes you to tangents you never dreamt of to get through all the little lies and to the truth.

Exemplary first novel and I am genuinely excited for the next one.

**Review originally published August 10th, 2017**