Six months ago, Darcie saved a little girl's life. She has desperately tried on avoid any publicity but goes missing the morning after she receives a sinister note. Can DCI Dan Riley find her safely...?
The Housewife's Secret is the 7th book in the DCI Riley series. I have previously read and reviewed books 5 and 6: The Night of the Party, and The Lie In Our Marriage. The cases are standalone but nuances of Dan's private and personal relationships have developed over the series.
Darcie is a housewife, married to a cardiologist. But she has been keeping secrets from him. She is pregnant and she is seeing a psychologist to help her deal with her past. Dan is supposed to be heading on holiday with his family but is informed about the case hours before departure. He senses something is concerning about the case and swiftly find Darcie's phone with probable blood on it. The holiday is postponed...
The book is written from Dan's perspective in the present day to show the police investigation. There are also flashes of humour as he avoids his wife's wrath at missing their holiday and is forced to wear an awful suit by his colleague. The case is interweaved with first person viewpoints at various points in Darcie's past and present. This allows us to glimpse clues about the secrets and potential reasons for her disappearance.
I enjoyed the layers of this book. We see Darcie's perspective at the very beginning but it then becomes clear we don't know her at all. Poor Dan! He is all set to enjoy some family time and a holiday but he can't resist this case. He immediately has bad vibes and fears for Darcie's safety but needs to piece together the truth quickly. From halfway through, it is clear someone is acting oddly and is therefore responsible but I enjoyed seeing how Dan came to the same conclusion.
The Housewife's Secret is a tense and engaging crime thriller and police procedural.

The burlb of this implies its a pov telling of the impact of a secret and the subsequent disapperance of Darcie the housewife.
Its intriguing and cleverly told via interactions learning Darcie's secret. Then a real clever mistory of who took her and why. I loved Detective Dan Riley and his character. This is part of a series but can bw read as a standalone. Dan has a heart and the pov clearly shows rhe true conflict of personal and professional life for all police.I loved the detailed and often potential pov of darcue and her feelings on her husband. Its nie to see someone with courage to write such feelings.
I enjoyed this all the characters were well developed and I actually cated about them and the outcom. I would highly recommend this sliw burn 5 star read
Thank you netgallery and publisher and author.

Thank you to Bookouture for my copy of this book and for letting me take part in this tour. This is the 7th book in the Detective Dan series but all can be read as standalones.

I am a huge fan of Detective Dan and this was another exciting installment. As always with Anna-Lou's books there is a lot more at play here than it first seems. She is very good at creating a deeper story underneath the initial crime. Anna-Lou does an excellent job of weaving in multiple POV and flashbacks into the story, creating both tension and suspense from beginning to end.

Both Darcie and Dan are characters you can really root for. You want them to succeed. You want Darcie to be rescued and Dan to get to go on his family holiday.

A story full of twists and turns that will keep you hooked all the way to the very last page.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
Really great crime thriller. I didn’t realize at first it was part of a series so now I’ll be looking into reading the other books in the series.

Darcie is married to Dr Gabe Bonneville. When she goes missing while out walking their dog and her
phone is found with traces of blood, it becomnes more than a case of a missing person. Is her kidnapping
tied to her husband? Why is there so little information about Darcie's life? Information is revealed in chapters
about Darcie's life with her mother. As more is uncovered, it becomes evident that someone is out to kill
Darcie. Will she be found alive?
Twists and turns, a thrilling read.
#TheHousewifesSecret #NetGalley

First of all … thank you to Bookouture for a digital copy for me to read and review. No compensation was received.
This is the first book I’ve read my this author and it won’t be my last.
I love the author’s writing style as well as amazing character development.
If you enjoy crime stories you’re going to love this one.

THE HOUSEWIFE’S SECRET is book #7 in the Detective Dan Riley Crime Thriller Series by author Anna-Lou Weatherley. Even though this is the seventh book in the Detective Dan Riley series, this is easily read as a stand-alone. After really enjoying the previous books in the series, I was anxious to start this book, The Stranger’s Wife…and again another winner! I was not disappointed! I loved it! This book will clutch you right from the beginning until the last page.

Detective Dan Riley Series:
1. Black Heart (2018) aka Last Cry
2. The Couple on Cedar Close (2019)
3. The Stranger's Wife (2020)
4. The Woman Inside (2021)
5. The Night of the Party (2022)
6. The Lie in Our Marriage (2023)
7. The Housewife's Secret (2024)

This is my review of The Housewife’s Secret.

Darcie had the perfect life married eighteen months to Dr. Gabe Bonneville, a renowned cardiologist. She doesn’t have to work, but looks after the home, throwing elaborate dinner parties for his best friends Dr. Hugh, a neurosurgeon, and his wife Anita. She hopes for a chance to have the family she’s always wanted.

But Darcie has a hidden past, the truth about the woman who raised her, which she has not disclosed any details to her husband, Gabe. Darcie has been seeing a therapist, Dr. Carmichael, to deal with her past trauma.

During a dinner party of all four, the postman delivers an envelope addressed to Darcie. She opens it and reads “FOUND YOU”, and quickly disposes it.

The next day Darcie went out to walk her dog in the woods near her home and hasn’t been seen since.

There is reason to believe that she may have been abducted.

Her phone was found down in the woods and traces of blood. Her dog had returned home.

DCI Dan Riley and his colleague, DS Lucy Davis were assigned to the case, by their boss, Super Archer. Together they must act swiftly to find Darcie.

I am not going to write any more for risk of spoilers, and ruin how it will end…you have to read this book to find out how it ends!

The Housewife’s Secret is a fast-paced crime-thriller, and additive read and one that you will not be able to put down…until you know!

Many thanks the author, Bookouture and Netgalley for my digital copy.

I have read the earlier books of DI Riley series, and they have a story that will keep you hooked. This book is no different. The reader will flow through the pages without any effort. It is the intrigue to know more about Darcie that will pull into the book. I was extremely happy that I received an early copy of the book for review.
The book has very small pool of characters, so reader will not have struggle navigating through these characters. The readers will come across Darcie in different timelines, and Dan in current scenario narrating his side of the investigation. The reader might figure out the culprit a bit earlier (around 75%), but the why will still blow their mind.

The book has remarkably dealt with mental health and question of nature vs. nurture. I would not quote the book at this moment, because it might reveal something of the story. The other aspect of the book I really like is portrayal of Gabe and Darcie's relationship.

Even though, it is part of the series, it can be read standalone, that's how I cam across DI Dan Riley series (and a few of them are in my TBR). I absolutely recommend to read the books in the series.

Thank you, NetGalley and Bookouture, for the early review copy of the book.
My rating
★★★★

4.5 stars rounded up

What a fantastic book!!! I love love love this series!!!

In this amazing seventh instalment, we have the heart-wrenching story of a young girl and her turbulent childhood.

In the same time, we are looking at the mysterious disappearance of Darcy, who left one morning to walk her dog and didn't return (the dog returned without her).

This is an excellent book and I am purposely not divulging much about as the reader has the right to enjoy every page of it.

Although it is part of a series, it can be read as a standalone.

I am sooo looking forward to the next one!!! Anna-Lou Weatherley is amazing, such a gifted writer!! I wish there were more books written by her!! What a treat to read such great, exciting, true page turner, thrilling books!!!

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read this awesome, awesome book!!!

I normally prefer standalone books to series but I make an exception for Dan Riley - he is a character I feel like I know personally. This book is no exception to my love for this character, centered on the disappearance of a woman named Darcie who seems like she has it all when it turns out she is hiding a secret.

We established how I feel about Dan, but I really liked Darcie too. While some of the decisions she made frustrated me, I could empathize with her plight and why she did the things she did. The book was fast-paced and did a good job at tying in past and present timelines to draw the reader into the story. I did find the ending a little predicable, but even though I identified the villain early, I didn’t understand the reasons behind that person’s decisions until reading more.

Overall, this was another winner in this series and was a quick and engaging read with likable characters. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

WoW.........The Housewife's Secret by Anna-Lou Weatherley has been one of the best series out there and this book is the seventh book in the excellent Detective Dan Riley series and I have loved it. Once I opened my kindle I was stuck in my comfy chair and found it hard to put it down. So glad it was a cold day and it was my day off!

The Housewife's Secret can be read as a standalone however, I do recommend you go back and read the other six books so you get a good feel of the main character Detective Dan Riley - Just brilliant!

I highly recommend these books and its another 5 star book.

Big Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the advanced copy of this book to read and review.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable, intriguing and engaging domestic thriller.
I loved Darcie and quickly warmed to her character.
It’s fast paced and has plenty of twists.
This is book is another great read in this series and one that I’d definitely recommend.

Darcie Bonneville’s in love with her life. She’s married to handsome, charming Gabe. The adoring way he looks at her still takes her breath away eighteen months after their wedding. She’s in love with their home too. They live in an opulent apartment she bought with a windfall inheritance. And now she’s in love with the new life growing inside her. She and Greg want nothing more than to start a family. Her pregnancy will thrill him. She can’t wait to tell him, but she’s going to wait another day until her doctor confirms it. This is one secret she won’t keep from her husband. But there are plenty that she will.

The night before her doctor’s appointment, she and Gabe are entertaining friends at their apartment when someone drops a note through their door. All these years, Darcie’s been hiding from her past while also hiding her past from husband. If Gabe ever found out the truth about her, she fears he would never feel the same about her again. She can’t afford to be discovered. It’s why she stays off social media. It’s why she avoided all media attention a few months before after she saved the life of a little girl. But with the words “Found You!” written on the note slid through her door, she fears her past has come to call as it promised it would. 

When Darcie goes missing the next morning, DCI Dan Riley puts his marriage and life on the line to find out what happened to her. As he delves into the investigation, the truth about Darcie starts to come to light. As he relays the horrible things he’s learned to her distraught husband, he sees something amazing. The man’s love for his wife only deepens. Touched, Dan is more determined than ever to bring Darcie home alive. But is it too late? Or has her past exacted the revenge it promised her years before? Gripping, fast-paced, and chock full of suspense, “The Housewife’s Secret” by Anna-Lou Weatherley is the next can’t-put-it-down book in the Dan Riley series.


And it does not disappoint! Dan Riley is nothing if he’s not a brilliant detective. With the way he talks when the story is told from his point-of-view, he puts you in the mind of the classic detectives from old-time mysteries. He’s as great of a guy as a Detective Chief Inspector. You can always tell when he’s narrating a chapter. His voice is distinct and recognizable. He’s incredibly likable. Anna-Lou Weatherley has masterfully developed his character over the series.

Darcie is also well-developed and likable. Even though she has secrets she’s hiding from her husband, as well as you the reader, Weatherley does such a good job of writing her interior monologue. You don’t learn her secrets right away, but you do get to know Darcie. It’s clear she’s not a bad person despite what she’s hiding (whatever that may be). She’s also not an unreliable narrator. Weatherley makes both things clear. The feelings she gives you about Darcie from the very beginning make the book that much better. You become more and more invested in her — and in the story. 

“The Housewife’s Secret” is a police procedural as much as it is a psychological thriller. You’ll be right beside DCI Dan Riley trying to figure out what happened to Darcie. The story is told from Dan’s point-of-view, but also from Darcie’s in current-day as well as in the past. As Dan starts to piece together her disappearance, Darcie starts to reveal what happened to her years ago. As she does, a sense of foreboding starts to fill the book. Evil is lurking close-by, and you can feel it getting closer. It jumps out of Darcie’s past and into the present as one heck of a mind-blowing twist.

When a book is this good, it’s hard not to say too much and drop spoilers. I won’t say what happened to Darcie or what her secrets are. Are they as horrible as she seems to think? If they’re not, why wouldn’t she tell her husband if they love each other so much? I won’t reveal the answers. I only want to praise Anna-Lou Weatherley. By putting Darcie in therapy and using PTSD as a plot device, she sheds light on the disorder. She also makes Darcie that much more relatable and believable as a character. “The Housewife’s Secret” isn’t my first book by Weatherley. All her books are ultra-gripping page turners that are fast moving and unputdownable. Needless to say, I’m a fan. But this one stands out with me and will continue to for a long time.

Do you really know your spouse? What would you do if they went missing and you discovered they had a dark past which they were hiding from? Panic sets in and when you finally see them you’re just relieved they are ok. Gabe comes home from a round of golf to see his dog sitting on the porch but his wife never returns home. He calls the police and DCI Riley comes to the scene. Putting all the pieces together Dan Riley opens up a window into Darcies past and discovers things she has kept to herself for over 20 years. Finding out these truths is what leads him to her kidnapper but did he put the pieces together too late?

Thank you NetGalley, the author and publisher for my arc!

The Housewife's Secret is the seventh in the Detective Dan Riley series...and I'm ashamed to say the first book I've read in the series.

It didn't take me long to be hooked by the plot and I devoured the book in two sittings. It was fast paced, super twisty and I found it highly enjoyable.

I love mysteries, thrillers and police procedural, so to have them all wrapped up into one book was fab! The characters were great and I'm looking forward to catching up with Dan's backstory from the beginning.

A good cozy mystery which I always enjoy. These stories are so easy to read and good fun. Still get the twists and red herrings which I love. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Ever since I met my handsome husband, Dr Gabe Bonneville, I started playing the role of the perfect housewife. He works hard as a surgeon, so I look after our home, and throw elaborate dinner parties with champagne cocktails for his best friends Hugh and Anita. He's my safe place and the chance to have the family I've always wanted. I haven't told Gabe the truth about the woman who raised me, or the therapy I've been getting. My secrets stay hidden in the dark. Until the letter arrives at the front door. Someone knows I'm not just a housewife. And the lies I've told will be all that's left when I disappear.

Every time I see a book from Anna-Lou Weatherley I get excited and once again she has produced another great book. I love Dan Riley's character, he really seems like the kind of guy you would want on your side if the need arose. As the books have progressed you get to know more and more about him and what makes him tick.

Darcie is married to Gabe a cardiac surgeon and lives a wonderful life with him in a beautiful home but
Darcie has secrets, secrets that even her husband Gabe knows nothing about. She has always ensured that she has left no digital imprint that could be traced and when she receives a disturbing note delivered to her house she knows her past is about to come back and haunt her, she is very frightened and realises these secrets are now going to become known, in her mind the only way out is to disappear. It is now up to Dan to try and figure out what has happened in Darcie's life that has led to her current behaviour, where is she, is she safe or has something terrible happened to her?

This is another book that was just all consuming and I read it in a few hours. A very good plot that held my attention all the way through, I did guess the major twist but this did not detract from my enjoyment of the book. If you have read this authors work before you will know how clever she is in her story telling and if you have not read her work you will soon be adding another author to your list of favourites.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve read most of the Dan Riley books and they tend to be anywhere from just Ok to really good. This one is one of those books. You know the books. Someone had a secret and does anything to hide it. But the very fact of hiding it is their downfall. And there is the revenge. The revenge that goes way overboard. As I was reading I didn’t find myself engrossed in the story. None of the characters were very well fleshed out. The story seemed force. So,the book was OK but I can’t see myself recommending it to anyone.

Anna-Lou Weatherley has written another exciting installment in her #DetectiveDanRileySeries. Dan is such a well-liked character that puts so much into his cases. He once again cared a lot about the missing Darcie. He stops at nothing to locate her. This is not just a great storyline, but also one that can be read as a stand-alone if you haven’t read the other books in the series!

Thank you, Anna-Lou Weatherley, Bookouture, & netgalley for my copy! All opinions are my own.

What do you expect or want from a book before you start reading ?

I want to be kept on my toes in anticipation of what will happen next.

I want that can’t stop won’t stop feeling when I know I should really only read just “one more chapter”

And ultimately I want characters who feel real and relative .

Well…

Check ✔️
Check ✔️
Check ✔️

This book checks off every box on my list for what I believe is a soon to be bestseller .

I was consumed early on and didn’t want to put this book down for even a bathroom break.

This was my first by Anna-Lou Weatherley, but it won’t be my last ! You don’t want to miss this one!

The Housewife’s Secret

Teaser :

I cast my eyes over the impressive meal I’ve cooked and the half-empty crystal wine glasses. As our guests smile graciously, I squeeze my husband’s shoulder. It’s vital I get his friends to like me. To believe this version of me. Because I’ll do anything to stop them learning the truth…

Ever since I met my handsome husband Dr Gabe Bonneville, I started playing the role of the perfect housewife. He works hard as a surgeon, so I look after our home, and throw elaborate dinner parties with champagne cocktails for his best friends Hugh and Anita. He’s my safe place and my chance to have the family I’ve always wanted.

I’ve managed to hide the mornings when I wake up and see a face in the shadows. I haven’t told Gabe the truth about the woman who raised me, or told him about the therapy I’ve been getting so my secrets stay hidden in the dark. I haven’t questioned his past so he doesn’t ask about mine. I see the way Anita looks at him sometimes, but I’ll never say a word.

Until the letter arrives at the front door. The beautiful, expensive card shakes in my hand as I read the neat black handwriting.

Someone knows I’m not just a housewife. And the lies I’ve told will be all that’s left when I disappear…

Fans of Lisa Jewell, Gillian Flynn and The Housemaid will be gripped by this unputdownable thriller and its non-stop twists and turns! A breathtaking ride from the very first chapter to the explosive ending.