📖 Blog Tour ~ Talking to Strangers by Fiona Barton

Random House /Transworld
15 August 2024

Elise King #2

My thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book
and the invitation to the blog tour

Three women. One Killer.

Talking to strangers has never been more dangerous...

When the body of forty-four-year-old Karen Simmons is found abandoned in remote woodland, journalist Kiki Nunn is determined this will be the big break she so desperately needs.

Because she has a head start on all the other reporters. Just a week before Karen was killed, Kiki interviewed her about the highs and lows of mid-life romance. Karen told her all about kissing strangers on the beach under the stars, expensive meals, roses. About the scammers and creeps...

While the police appear to be focusing on local suspects, Kiki sets out to write the definitive piece on one woman's fatal search for love. But she will soon learn that the search for truth can be just as deadly...

📖 My Review

When the body of Karen Simmons is discovered in a woodland setting journalist Kiki Nunn is horrified to discover that she has recently interviewed this woman as part of her investigation into the pitfalls of finding love in mid life. With the police focusing on finding the perpetrator, Kiki starts her own search into Karen's death and in doing so opens herself up to danger.

Told in a three person narrative we get to meet again with Detective Inspector Elise King who heads the police investigation with her usual skill as she picks up all the hidden nuances of a complicated investigation. We also get to know Annie a rather sad woman who is mourning her own loss, and together with Kiki Nunn, who is a force to be reckoned with, we are thrown into a compelling story with lots of twists and turns which kept me guessing, until an ending I didn’t see coming.

Whilst this is now the second book featuring DI Elise King in her role as lead detective it is perfectly possible to read Talking to Strangers as a standalone story. Fast paced with never a dull moment, and with a plot which is both exciting and insightful, the story had me gripped from start to finish.

About the Author

Fionna Barton's debut, The Widow, was a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller, and has been published in thirty-seven countries and optioned for television. Her second novel, The Child, and her third, The Suspect, were both bestsellers. Born in Cambridge, Fiona currently lives on the south coast in West Sussex. Previously, she was a senior writer at the Daily Mail, news editor at the Daily Telegraph, and chief reporter at the Mail on Sunday, where she won Reporter of the Year at the British Press Awards. While working as a journalist, Fiona reported on many high-profile criminal cases and developed a fascination with watching those involved, their body language and verbal tics. She interviewed people at the heart of these crimes, from the guilty to their families, as well as those on the periphery, and found it was those just outside the spotlight who interested her most...

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