A Twist-Filled Mystery Told Through Screens: Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter

🕵️‍♀️ Book Spotlight: Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter

Genre: Mystery • Crime Fiction • Mixed Media • True Crime-Inspired

☕ Book Details & Rating

Format: Audiobook Series: Standalone Year Published: 2023 Page Count: 432 Rating: ☕☕☕ (3 Coffees!)

☕ Coffee Pairing

Perfect Sip: Espresso Tonic Why it Works: Unexpected, bold, and totally out of the ordinary—just like this book. Murder in the Family keeps you guessing with every format shift and twist, and an espresso tonic brings that same punch of energy and imagination in every sip.

About the Book

Told in a brilliant multimedia format—including emails, scripts, and interview transcripts—Murder in the Family follows the filming of a true crime documentary as it tries to solve a decades-old cold case. Six experts. One unresolved murder. And a production full of secrets. As the cameras roll, tensions rise, and the truth slowly unravels—on and off screen. If you love true crime, nonlinear storytelling, and puzzles within puzzles, this one’s for you.

My Thoughts

When I first heard about this book, I thought it was really cool as to how it was written. It includes newspaper clippings, social boards (think Reddit), emails, text messages, voicemails, diagrams, and it was written in script style format. I did think there would be more evidence wise than there actually was. I remember watching a TikTok where the creator mentioned we got to sift through the evidence and solve it along with the experts. I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten who the creator was, it was a year ago. Once I dove into the book, I saw that was misrepresented a bit. We did get to hear about the evidence, but it was definitely not all given to us. Much like the big reveal in the end, Cara Hunter kept a lot from us, the readers.

Don’t get me wrong. I still thoroughly enjoyed this who-dun-it. It was intriguing and kept me guessing. I had a hypothesis from the very beginning and it turned out to be correct in the end. However, it was a very twisty road to get there. I even doubted myself for a minute toward the end. The author did a fabulous job of throwing things at you that will make you stop and think long and hard about your own theory. I’m keeping this as spoiler-free as I can. So, yes, I know that’s vague. After the first big twist reveal relatively early on in the book, it took me 3 weeks to pick it back up. I was shocked and disappointed in myself for not picking up any clues on that. Then I realized there were no clues. That’s why it was such a shock.

Now, while her writing style was impeccable, one issue I had was that in the end, some of the loose ends were not tied up. They were never explained. That’s one of my biggest pet peeves. She lead us down that path to only have it dead end, but then didn’t clean it up. Another pet peeve of mine is the fact that she had an American character that would occasionally say things that was not American vernacular. That pulled me out of the story each time and as the story progressed, the more those error happened. Neither of these things are enough for me to DNF the book or give it a lower score than deserved but ugh.

Final Thoughts

Murder in the Family is a bold, creatively structured mystery that reads like a binge-worthy true crime docuseries. The twists are sharp, the format is fun, and the story kept me engaged—even when I was yelling internally about a few missing details. While I wish some threads had been tied up and the American character had actually sounded American, I still had a good time with this one. If you enjoy experimental storytelling and don’t mind being more of a viewer than a detective, this book is worth a spot on your TBR.