★Hunter, Cara. Hope To Die. Morrow. (DI Adam Fawley, Bk. 6). Jun. 2024. 432p. ISBN 9780063263819. pap. $18.99. M

If a man hadn’t heard a gunshot at Gantry Manor outside Oxford, the death of a young man, who was shot in the face, might never have been reported. The story of an interrupted burglary told by the elderly Swanns just doesn’t add up. It’s only when DI Adam Fawley and his team recognize the Swanns that they link the couple to a 20-year-old story. Camilla Rowan was arrested five years after her baby disappeared. In a notorious case that made headlines, she was tried for his murder, although a body was never found. Camilla, known as “Milly Liar”, has served 15 years, although she still insists her son is alive. What if Camilla’s son was alive until he was shot by the Swanns? Fawley’s investigative team digs into Camilla’s story one more time in a complex case with twists until the last page. VERDICT Inspired by a real-life crime in Australia, the sixth DI Fawley novel (following The Whole Truth) is an intricate, carefully plotted police procedural comparable to the best of Ann Cleeves’s Vera novels or Louise Penny’s mysteries. The mixed media used in the book adds to its appeal.