Buried in a woodland grave are a mother and her child.
One is alive. One is dead. It is one of the most harrowing cases to hit D.C. Charlie Stafford’s department in years. Then more pairs of mothers and children go missing – and it’s Charlie’s job to find them. Soon, Charlie is hunting down a brutal serial killer with a twisted mind. But as she closes in on the culprit, she realises she’s in … on the culprit, she realises she’s in more danger than she thought…
He’s watching. He’s waiting. Who’s next?
Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Mel Sheratt and L.J. Ross.
Praise for Mummy’s Favourite:
‘This book hooked me in from the start’
‘This is fast paced crime writing at its best’
‘If you like stories that keep you on the edge of your seat then this is for you’
‘Kept me guessing right up to the end’
more
DC Charlie Stafford has a past that influenced her decision to go into police work. She works well with her superiors and her team. They are investigating the disappearance of a mother and son they think may be domestic abuse because it took the husband 4 days to report them missing. Then there is second disappearance of another mother and son and there is no clear link to the two cases. Who is doing the abducting and how can they catch the criminal before more mothers and their children are taken. DC Charlie Stafford will be a new character to follow. Great read. I would like to thank the Publisher and Net Galley for the chance to read this ARC.
The publisher says that Mummy’s Favourite by Sarah Flint is perfect for fans of Karin Slaughter, and I would have to agree with them.
What it’s about: Introducing DC Charlotte (Charlie) Stafford of the London Metropolitan Police. Charlie is assigned to help with a missing person’s case where there is a mother and son missing, and a husband and son left behind. The husband is violent and everyone’s first thought is that it is him. But when other mother/child couplings start to go missing Charlie is scrambling to figure out how they are all connected and if it is in fact the husband of the first missing persons behind it all. At the same time, Charlie is dealing with her own personal issues plus trying to help a local war hero.
Mummy’s Favourite is chalk full of crime material and action. I wouldn’t say it is quite as graphic as a Karin Slaughter novel, especially when it comes to gore, but it was most definitely full of disturbing material. There is a lot going on in the book, and a lot of different POVs which I really liked. We got POVs from Charlie, the killer, a stalker, and more which makes for a very interesting read.
Even though there is lots of action and there was plenty to keep me interested, I found that I read this book fairly slow. There are 344 pages to the paperback and it took me over 5 hours to read it. That is probably fast by most people’s standards, but I just felt slow when I was reading it. But this is not a negative, I just wanted to mention it!
I loved the bits about Charlie’s background and personal life, and I’m really glad I started with book 1 of this series instead of starting later as I sometimes end up doing. If you are going to read these, I recommend starting with book 1 and going in order just because I think you learn a lot about Charlie in here. I haven’t read the other books to this series, but now I can’t wait to!
Final Thought: For the most part, Mummy’s Favourite read like an episode of Criminal Minds which I really liked. I like when books switch between the criminals and the police even though the criminal sections were pretty disturbing. Definitely a lot of police procedural to this book so if you are a fan of good police procedurals and crime writing this is one I would highly recommend checking out. The fact that the author worked for the Metropolitan Police really shines through in this novel, and it was quite fascinating to read.
She wakes up not knowing where she is or how she got there. Her hands and feet are bound. There is a small tube in front of her face … water, she smells water. She also smells something else and OMG, are there creepy, crawly things slithering across her face? She starts to remember. Her son .. where is her son? She turns her head as far as she can and there he is. Grinning through the slit in his throat. She screams and screams and screams … but no one hears her.
And once she dies, he’s able to go hunting .. again.
DC Charlie Stafford is investigating in the disappearances of women and children in broad daylight. There seems to be no rhyme nor reason to why …. The women have left husbands and other children behind. Chances of them just running off doesn’t make much sense.
Leaving behind no clues, no witnesses, DC Stafford is racing against the clock to figure out who has them, why were they taken and are they still alive. And it’s most imperative to solve the questions before more mothers and their children are taken.
This is a galloping, compelling crime thriller. There is lots of hand-wringing suspense. Charlie and her boss, DI Hunter, take center stage as leading characters. Charlie looks upon Hunter as a father figure. And Hunter has no doubt about letting Charlie trust her gut instincts. There’s not a lot of background information on Hunter, but the reader learns quite a bit about Charlie.
This was a new author to me, but one I will definitely follow in the future. I’m anxious to see what further adventures are in Charlie’s future.
Many thanks to the author / Aria / NetGalley for the digital copy of MUMMY’S FAVOURITE. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
Strange book but I enjoyed reading it. It was a different read for me.