Well. I read Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda and had SO many questions. I investigated them all and have answers in this Spoiler Discussion for Daughter of Mine. Includes a Daughter of Mine character list, the ending of Daughter of Mine explained and ALL my questions answered. If you have even more questions, let’s figure it out together in comments.
Spoiler Discussion for Daughter of Mine
I’m trying to keep these shorter, but if there is anything I didn’t cover, drop me a comment!
Character List for Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda
The Holt Family
Hazel Sharp – narrator and professional house flipper
Libby Sharp – Hazel’s late mom, a known grifter (also used the name Beth Sharp)
Perry Holt – Hazel’s father, a former police officer. Recently passed away
Roy Holt – Perry’s brother, a lawyer.
Audrey Holt – Perry’s late wife; Caden and Gage’s mom
Gage Holt – oldest Holt child ( 2 years older than Hazel)
Caden Holt – younger son of Perry, also a police officer
Jamie Holt – Cade’s wife and Hazel’s high school friend
Skyler Holt – Cade and Jamie’s six year old daughter
Sonny – Jamie’s mom
Other Mirror Lake Residents
Nicholas “Nico” Pritchard – best friend of Gage and lives next door to Perry Holt
Nicholas Pritchard Sr: also a police officer and former partner of Perry Holt. Took his own life.
Serena Flores – police officer, dated Gage.
Al Flores – Serena’s father
Keira and Luke – Hazel’s business partners in house flipping
Miles and Amber – water hunters/YouTubers.
Pete – retired police officer who runs Reflection Point, the town diner.
Ending of Daughter of Mine Explained: the short answer
- Hazel figures out that Roy Holt, Perry’s brother, is behind almost everything that happened.
- Hazel starts to confront Roy, asking him why he killed her mother and what he did with Libby’s body.
- Caden shows up and tells Hazel to run. She heads toward Nico’s house
- Roy shoots Caden and comes after Hazel. She hides and calls 911.
- Trapped and with Roy shooting at her, Hazel heads into the lake.
- Roy tries to follow her, but she knows the lake well and leads him into a current, where he drowns.
- Hazel, Caden, and Gage agree to share the house.
Okay, that’s the literal ending but I had SO MANY QUESTIONS. Here they are and please add yours in the comments. We will figure this out together!
What Happened to Audrey Holt in Daughter of Mine and Why?
- Audrey was trying to leave Perry to be with Roy, but Perry took her car keys.
- Audrey then tried to escape on her bike. But Perry blocked her way with her own car, which she crashed into and died.
- All the backstory was covered up and her death was thought to be a tragic accident. Her car was the first one pulled out of the lake.
- But Caden witnessed some of this and his uncle Roy was using that to blackmail Perry (see more below.)
What Happened to Libby Sharp in Daughter of Mine and Why?
- Libby was Roy’s bookkeeper and noticed he (an addict) was stealing money from his law clients.
- She wanted to get Hazel away from the Holts, whom she apparently considered more dangerous than her low-level grifting. But instead of talking to Hazel, she wrote her a note that basically said “pack a bag and I’ll be back for you. Don’t tell anyone.”
- Before she could pull this off, Roy killed her. Not only was she asking too many questions, he felt it was revenge for what Perry did to Audrey, detailed above.
- Perry asked Pete to hide Libby’s car in the lake, which he did. Perry did this because he thought a second dead/missing wife wasn’t great for his image. So her case never got investigated.
- Gage admits to being the one who switched Libby’s notes, as a kindness to Hazel. He also sent Hazel a postcard from Mexico so she’d think her mom was there. (In my review of the book I shared my frustration with the fact that these people need to TALK to each other.)
What Happened to Sonny in Daughter of Mine and Why?
- Jamie’s mom, Sonny, died of a myserious overdose. She was actually killed by Roy after she told him she didn’t trust Caden (her daughter’s husband). More on all Roy’s misdeeds below.
What Happened to Jamie Holt in Daughter of Mine and Why?
- Jamie is alive and well.
- She found a photo of Audrey with her two sons next to a car that both Jamie (and then Hazel) realize was the first car that got pulled out of the lake.
- Jamie also found the original note that Libby had written to Hazel. The note didn’t say “I hope you can forgive me,” it said something more like “we have to get out of here and away from this creepy family.”
- Jamie hid the note in Skyler’s backpack (not sure why, as that’s weird.) Skyler found it, thought it was meant for her, and hid it. (SO much hiding stuff!!!)
- Jamie was hiding out in a dive-y motel in town and then (I think) went to her father’s. She was trying to get a message to Hazel to grab Sklyer and bring her to Jamie, but Hazel didn’t check the answering machine. lol.
- Jamie was also (I think) indirectly responsible for the death of Max Falkner, the missing student (see below).
What Happened to Nicholas Pritchard Sr (Nico’s dad) in Daughter of Mine
- He was investigating Perry.
- He was concerned that Perry was closing murder cases by calling them accidents or disappearances.
- He was thought to have taken his own life, but Roy killed him to protect Perry. Yes, even though he himself was furious that Perry had swept Audrey’s “accident” under the rug.
Why did Roy kill to protect Perry if he thought Perry was responsible for Audrey’s death
- The book suggests that Roy was somewhat of a serial murderer/didn’t mind murdering people/kind of got off on it. But his victims were all connected to protecting Holt family secrets. Even though the whole town seemed to know the real story behind Roy-Audrey-Perry.
What Happened to Max Falkner, the missing student?
- This was confusing to me, so if you have more insight, please tell me in comments.
- Masked high school students were pulling pranks (smoke detector batteries, disposable camera shenanigans, etc.)
- Max seems to have run into Jamie in the woods.
- Hazel seems to suggest that Jamie was responsible for his death, but not how. If I missed this please explain in comments!
Why did Perry Holt leave the house (with money inside) to Hazel?
- I think it was to keep it safe from Roy.
- Perry knew that Roy was an addict, so instead of leaving his money in a bank account, he hid it inside the house and trusted Hazel to find it and keep it safe. Remember, everyone thought that Libby stole Perry’s money.
- I’m pretty sure the book suggests he did NOT know what Roy did to Libby.
- Roy says he did not kill Perry, but who knows. What do YOU think?
Join the Spoiler Discussion for Daughter of Mine in comments!
Geez, this book dumped a lot of information on us at the end. Do you still have questions? Leave me a comment as I am here to help!
Thank you for this great summary/recap. I listened to the audiobook on 3x speed. I followed the major storyline but got a little lost with some of the smaller details.
So glad it was helpful! And 3x whoa! I do 1.5 or 1.75 and I can manage that if no one talks to me or I don’t get distracted.
I’m planning a big revamp/organization of all these long spoiler posts and you can subscribe to my newsletter to stay on top of the news!
Thank you for the recap…it’s was such a slow start and lots of names to remember and then – bam!! So I came here for answers. Thank you
I am glad you found it helpful. I really liked it in the end, but it did take a while to get going.
The Max Falkner death is the most confusing part for me. I didn’t understand how they made any connection to Jamie killing him. I understand her picture was on that camera roll, but they never went into how he died, or what evidence they had to connect it to her.
I reread that part so many times, I’m glad I wasn’t the only one so confused.
Agree – I wanted more explanation!!! Overall I think this is one of her strongest books, and I guess she couldn’t tie up every single loose end.
Didn’t they say Jaime and Hazle used to meet at that place and think about the abyss and disappearing into it? I figured Jaime was startled by the mask man, having thought someone was after her and simply pushed him and he fell over into it.
Thanks, Tammy! Yes, the book did say that Jamie and Hazel used to hang out there. Also, Hazel thinks that when Jamie leaves her the note that says “meet me at our spot” she meant the lookout/Barrel. I like that theory that Jamie was there and Max startled her! But I agree that it’s confusing too 🙂
Ok, how about this – they went on and on about Sonny’s bike…then they mentioned a bike pulled out of the lake by the amateur investigators so I naturally assumed that was Sonny’s bike…but they never mentioned either again or connected the two?!?!
Hi Diane! I didn’t catch that but went back and looked.
It’s definitely possible it was Sonny’s, since her bike was missing, but since she died through a pill overdose I’m not sure why the bike would get dumped in the lake. If Roy put her body back in her house, why not just return the bike there?
Didn’t Audrey also die in a bike accident (ride off on a bike and get hit by a car?) I feel like it would make more sense to be hers, but the book says the amateurs found a bike in good condition and it seems like Audrey’s would be damaged.
So.. it’s a mystery to me as well.
I think Max died because he fell from the Barrel (cliff)…when I read about how Jamie and Hazel went there to the cliff… I think there was a confrontation and the last picture was of Jamie frightened that Max somehow took as he was falling.