Elise King Series: Book 2
Publication Date: August 27, 2024
Detective Elise King’s investigation into a woman’s murder is getting derailed by a reporter who insists on doing her own investigation in this nail-biting mystery from the author of Local Gone Missing.
When Karen Simmons is murdered on Valentine’s Day, Detective Elise King wonders if she was killed by a man she met online. Karen was all over the dating apps, leading some townspeople to blame her for her own death, while others band together to protest society’s violence against women. Into the divide comes Kiki Nunn, whose aggressive newsgathering once again antagonizes Elise.
A single mother of a young daughter, Kiki is struggling to make a living in the diminished news landscape. Getting a scoop in the Simmons murder would do a lot for her career, and she’s willing to go up against not just Elise but the killer himself to do it.
Detective Elise King must unravel a murder she thinks may be tied to online dating, but a pesky reporter continues to get in the way.
Talking to Strangers is the second installment in Fiona Barton’s series featuring Detective King. Packed with intensity, this fascinating “whodunit” delves into the dark side of online dating sites where predators lurk.
Journalist Kiki Nunn sees all sorts of story possibilities with the murder of Karen Simmons, the primary source for a story Kiki was working on about middle-aged women looking for love. Now, Kiki is leveraging the interviews as the foundation for a bigger story that is rife with danger.
The story is told from several points of view. Elise focuses on the investigation while Kiki tries to flush out the culprit online. A third point of view, told by a mother whose son was also killed in the woods years ago, heightens the tension.
Was it a stranger or someone Karen knew? There’s a showdown between local authorities and the reporter, especially since their goal to find the murderer is the same.
Talking to Strangers showcases the push/pull between investigators and journalists while managing to put all the pieces together to identify the culprit.
Fiona Barton is the New York Times bestselling author of Local Gone Missing, The Widow, The Child, and The Suspect. She has trained and worked with journalists all over the world. 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. Born in Cambridge, she lives in England.
