Today I’m delighted to feature Sunday Times bestselling crime writer Cara Hunter. Cara is the author of the fabulous series featuring DI Adam Fawley and his Oxford-based police team.

Cara’s debut novel Close to Home was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick and was shortlisted for Crime Book of the Year in the British Book Awards 2019. No Way Out was selected by the Sunday Times as one of the 100 best crime novels since 1945. And The Whole Truth was a Richard and Judy pick in 2021. Cara’s novels have sold more than a million copies worldwide, and the TV rights to the series have now been acquired by the Fremantle group. She lives in Oxford, on a street not unlike those featured in her books.

Over to Cara:

Which five pieces of music/songs would you include in the soundtrack to your life and why?

Waiting on a Friend, by the Rolling Stones. This song was running through my head during the two days I interviewed at Oxford, so it’s a reminder of a life-changing time

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Oh Yeah, by Roxy Music. I’ve been a fan since I was a teenager and this brings back a special summer

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Wishing I Was Lucky, by Wet Wet Wet. This reminds me of when I left university and was living in South London. There’s a line about ‘a job on the city’ and I was working in the City back then

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Sara, by Fleetwood Mac. For my amazing best friend, Sarah

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I Shall Be Released, by Aaron Neville. I had to have one song to remind me of my books, and this is the theme song I chose for the podcast in The Whole Truth. It’s also a beautiful version of the song

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What five things (apart from family and friends) would you find it hard to live without.

My cats

My hairbrush

Books

Mascara

Champagne!

Give five pieces of advice to your younger self?

You’re stronger than you think

Imposter syndrome affects everybody

Be kinder to yourself

Ambition is good, determination is good, and hard work will always pay off

Be more confident!

Tell us five things that most people don’t know about you

I don’t like monkeys

I’m scared of heights

I hate driving

I’ve never dyed my hair

One of my great-great grandmothers was French

Tell us five things you’d still like to do or achieve.

See the Fawley books on TV (which is in the works, so fingers crossed)

Have a book win a prize

Visit New Zealand again

Meet Bryan Ferry (haha!)

Be happy, stay happy

Many thanks for joining me today Cara, you brought some great music choices. I hope you appreciate the Roxy Music video, I know several bloggers (including Linda Hill) and myself will. You’re not the only one who’d like to meet Bryan Ferry! I love that you’d find it hard to live without champagne – that sounds very rock ‘n’ roll. Great advice to your younger self, most of which I’m sure we could still all tell ourselves as adults. Delighted to hear that your DI Fawley series is already being adapted for TV, I shall be watching! Here’s hoping that’s not the only thing you manage to tick off on your achievement list.

Cara’s Books

(NB This post features Affiliate links from which I earn a small commission on qualifying purchases)

Close to Home (DI Fawley Book 1)

Someone took Daisy Mason . . .
Someone you know.

Last night, eight-year-old Daisy Mason disappeared from a family party. No one in the quiet suburban street saw anything – or at least that’s what they’re saying.

DI Adam Fawley is trying to keep an open mind. But he knows the nine times out of ten, it’s someone the victim knew.

That means someone is lying…
And that Daisy’s time is running out.

In the Dark (DI Fawley Book 2)

A woman and child are found locked in a basement room, barely alive.

No one knows who they are – the woman can’t speak, and there are no missing persons reports that match their profile. The elderly man who owns the house claims he has never seen them before.

The inhabitants of the quiet Oxford street are in shock. How could this happen right under their noses? But DI Adam Fawley knows that nothing is impossible.

And that no one is as innocent as they seem . . .

No Way Out (DI Fawley Book 3)

What if someone wanted your family dead?

It’s one of the most disturbing cases DI Fawley has ever worked.

The Christmas holidays, and two children have just been pulled from the wreckage of their burning home in North Oxford. The toddler is dead, and his brother is soon fighting for his life. Why were they left in the house alone? Where is their mother, and why is their father not answering his phone?

Then new evidence is discovered, and DI Fawley’s worst nightmare comes true.

Because this fire wasn’t an accident. It was murder.

And the killer is still out there…

All the Rage (DI Fawley Book 4)

The first girl came back.
The next might not be so lucky…

A girl is taken from the streets of Oxford. But it’s unlike any abduction DI Fawley’s seen before . . .

Faith Appleford was attacked, a plastic bag tied over her head, taken to an isolated location . . . and then, by some miracle, she escaped.

What’s more, when DC Erica Somer interviews Faith, she quickly becomes convinced that Faith knows who her abductor is. Yet Faith refuses to press charges. Without more evidence, it’s looking like the police may have to drop the case.

But what happens if Faith’s attacker strikes again?

The Whole Truth(DI Fawley Book 5)

An attractive student. An older professor.
Think you know the story? Think again.

She has everything at stake; he has everything to lose. But one of them is lying, all the same.

When an Oxford student accuses one of the university’s professors of sexual assault, DI Adam Fawley’s team think they’ve heard it all before. But they couldn’t be more wrong.

Because this time, the predator is a woman and the shining star of the department, and the student a six-foot male rugby player.

Soon DI Fawley and his team are up against the clock to figure out the truth. What they don’t realise is that someone is watching.

And they have a plan to put Fawley out of action for good…

Hope to Die (DI Fawley Book 6)

Midnight.
A call out to an isolated farm on the outskirts of Oxford.
A body shot at point-blank range in the kitchen.

It looks like a burglary gone wrong, but DI Adam Fawley suspects there’s something more to it.

When the police discover a connection to a high-profile case from years ago, involving a child’s murder and an alleged miscarriage of justice, the press go wild.

Suddenly Fawley’s team are under more scrutiny than ever before. And when you dig up the past, you’re sure to find a few skeletons…