ARC Review: Family Lies by Karen Rose

Family Lies
Author: Karen Rose
Series: The San Diego Case Files (Book 4)
Publication: Berkley (March 31, 2026)

Description: The fourth nerve-shattering installment of the San Diego Case Files from New York Times bestselling author Karen Rose sees Kit McKittrick’s sister caught in a maelstrom of deadly family secrets.

As an infant, Kit McKittrick’s foster sister Akiko was abandoned at a firehouse. Now 32, Akiko has received an unsettling phone call from a woman who says that she knew her birth mother but refuses to divulge any details except in person. Akiko is nervous but also thrilled at the prospect of finally learning about her blood relations.

Kit has a bad feeling about this and insists on accompanying Akiko to meet the woman. Sure enough, as they stand on Mary Sherman’s doorstep, shots are fired and Kit is hit...and inside the house is a corpse: Mary Sherman herself.

Although she’s on medical leave and forbidden to work the case, Kit cannot rest. With police psychologist Sam Reeves, she undertakes a covert investigation into the mysterious Mary Sherman. Was she Akiko’s birth mother? Why did she reach out after all these years? And who had a motive to kill her?

As more bodies pile up, Kit starts to put together the pieces of the frightening puzzle that is Akiko’s birth family, and she’ll come to wonder whether some secrets should stay buried after all.

My Thoughts: The fourth book in the San Diego Case Files is centered around Akiko McKittrick. Detective Kit McKittrick goes with her adopted sister Akiko when she receives a call from a woman who says she knows something about her mother. Since Akiko was left in a box outside a firehouse when she was only a couple of days old, she wants to know about her mother. 

When Akiko, Kit and Kit's boyfriend psychologist Sam Reeves, arrive at Mary Sherman's house, they are shot at. Kit is hit in the arm but only because she bent her head to look at something which caused the shooter to miss the head shot. They go into the house to find that Mary Sherman has been murdered. 

Kit is determined to find answers for her sister but is surprised when her lieutenant takes her off the case in favor of another pair of detectives one of whom really hates Kit. The lieutenant tells her to stop investigating and puts her on medical leave. But it's Kit's sister. She can't step aside especially since she knows one of the investigator's assigned to the case is incompetent. 

Kit keeps investigating and soon finds herself suspended from her job which just adds additional stress to her life. Choosing between her job and her sister is a no-brainer though. Kit will always put family first no matter how much she loves her job. 

Kit, Sam and Kit's retired partner Baz keep investigating and trying to uncover the events that led to Akiko's abandonment as an infant. They discover a tangled and twisty past for Akiko's relatives and face all sorts of dangers along the way including another couple of deaths and more attacks on Kit. 

This was an excellent thriller filled with engaging characters. I enjoyed Kit's tentative steps into love and letting someone else into her life. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.