Breakaway Books

Authored by Denise Mina; Published July 2025; Mystery

⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🏖️

Class structure in the UK comes with a lot of baggage—if that wasn’t clear to me before, it is glaringly obvious after reading The Good Liar. For once, I’m glad to be in America.

In The Good Liar, Claudia O’Sheil, a forensic scientist, is putting her life back together after a car accident kills her husband when a titled English couple is murdered. Her signature blood spatter analysis method is used to identify a killer, their heir William, but Claudia is convinced he is innocent. However, as the case develops, and Claudia becomes more entrenched in her forensic consulting company’s success, it becomes clearer and clearer that trying to prove the accused’s innocence could be her own downfall. Claudia must choose: success for herself or justice for William?

Over the course of the novel, Claudia is bound more and more tightly to the success of the aristocrats that surround her: They give her a house, they facilitate her boys’ entrance into private school, and they give her additional income. To me, their method for drawing her into their circle lacked any degree of subtlety and should be far less successful for it—wouldn’t it have been far more effective if done more slowly, if Claudia weren’t aware of what was happening to her until the trap was fully in place? She knows at every step of the way that there is something wrong, that she is being given advantages that come with a price tag, and still, she keeps moving forward, albeit warily. While I was perfectly willing to believe that Claudia would accept these gifts, if only for the good of her family, it doesn’t quite jive with her character, and it made for a somewhat anticlimactic narrative. It is obvious from very nearly the moment the crime is committed that Claudia is being bribed to make sure the courses of justice only run the way her upper class sponsor wants.

Gina, Claudia’s sister, is quite possibly the most interesting element of the entire novel. A talented artist and a drug addict, she comes off as somewhat erratic throughout the novel. Ready to swoop in and help care for her nephews when Claudia’s husband dies, she seems equally ready to abandon Claudia for the drama that she brings into Gina’s life, regardless of the fact that the “drama” surrounding Claudia is not truly under her control. The author seems to use Gina as a contrast to just about everyone else in Claudia’s life: a no bullshit, honesty-above-everything person who holds Claudia to high standards, in spite of Gina’s less than consistent behavior herself. Her character provides the most intrigue and surprise throughout the narrative.

The Good Liar is an indictment of the upper class in the UK in the wrapping of a murder mystery. It didn’t do it for me on the suspense front, but if you like a good sprinkling of social commentary with your mysteries, go ahead and pick this one up!