This is a solid domestic noir written by an author I always enjoy. Charlie is the second wife of a wealthy widower whose first wife drowned in a tragic accident in the lake surrounding their million dollar home. Or was it an accident? Townsfolk believe it was more but Charlotte truly loves Paul and supports him one hundred percent. Until another young woman ends up drowned under the same darned dock. Now off and running, we learn of a teenage friendship between Paul and two other young men, once of which is the son of the Police Chief and the other is considered the twin crazy person living in the hills. As Charlie becomes more and more involved, she begins to doubt her husband. With good reason? Maybe, maybe not.

Kimberly Belle just never, ever disappoints.

Jam packed with secrets, lies, misdirection and surprises this one had me literally dropping my jaw in a room by myself, looking around to see who else was shocked.

The pacing was perfect, the characterizations were outstanding and the story was original, vibrant, and utterly gripping.

I loved this one as much as Dear Wife and that is some seriously high praise.

Thank you to Kimberly Belle, Park Row and NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

STRANGER IN THE LAKE by Kimberly Belle is a gripping domestic thriller that had me hooked from the first page straight through to the shocking ending. When Charlotte marries wealthy widower Paul, she believes the strength of their love will allow her to put her troubled trailer park past behind her despite the constant gossip about her motives and the fate of Paul’s first wife who tragically drowned near their opulent lakeside home. Everything changes in an instant when Charlotte discovers a woman’s body in the lake in the same spot as Paul’s wife met her end. Could it be a coincidence? As the investigation into the stranger’s death progresses, it becomes clear that Paul has long-buried secrets that Charlotte is just starting to uncover. Who is telling the truth and is there anyone she can really trust? The story is filled with twists and turns that I never saw coming. It has great characters and a setting that drew me in right from the start. I have read and loved several of Kimberly Belle’s previous thrillers and this one definitely does not disappoint. Highly recommended! Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read an early copy.

Charlotte starts to wonder who Paul the man she married really is. Seems everyone has guilt and are hiding something.
At times it was hard to put the book down and other times it felt like it was missing something. I've read all of Kimberly Belle's books and have loved them all, this book not so much. I had to finish it as I had to know who done it. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this and leave an honest review.

Of course I loved this book, it’s Kimberly Belle! Mysterious, creepy, thriller, page turner that I couldn’t turn away from. I devoured all the secrets and the drama and the way Belle digs deep it’s like watching a reality murder mystery reality who dun it! Thanks to Netgalley for my advanced ebook copy! Put this on your TBR for sure!

From start to finish this suspense book delivers a nonstop thrilling ride. Charlie, married 14 months and newly pregnant, takes the boat to town to pick up her husband Paul, where she sees him talking to a beautiful stranger. Paul, a rich successful architect met Charlie while she was working at a gas station and they quickly fell in love. Getting married everyone thought she was crazy because Paul’s wife was found a few years earlier dead, floating under their dock, and although he was the prime suspect they could never arrest him for the crime.
Telling her the conversation was nothing they return to their palatial lakefront home, but Evie can’t sleep and in the early morning hours goes down to the dock to find a woman’s body floating under their dock. Paul swears innocence, but Evie isn’t sure what to believe anymore. Could everyone have been right about Paul?
I couldn’t put this book down and love how Kimberly Belle fleshes out her characters, and successfully introduces plot twist after plot twist. We all know there are a glut of suspense books being published, but Stranger in the Lake will stand out, and is well worth the read.

Secrets always come back to haunt you and money doesn’t buy happiness. In this latest by Kimberly Belle you learn that early on. With that said, I was hooked from the beginning. This was a fast-paced, well-written story ... I did have the mystery solved pretty early on (hence the 4 ⭐️) but definitely recommend! Add this one to your TBR.

Thank you #netgalley and #harlequin for the eARC.

So that was..........fantastic!!! Yes, Kimberly Belle managed to pull it off again. I literally couldn't put this book down. I flew through this in just one day.

Charlotte or Charlie- depending on who you ask...has found the man of her dreams. A small town girl that was raised by a drug addict in a trailer park that was under deplorable conditions- marries the town millionaire....hmm this is going to be interesting.

When Charlotte marries Paul.... well people are going to talk. Gold digger anyone?? You be the judge..but the town has branded her as a gold digger as well Paul's wonderful mother. I mean couldn't it just be love? Paul is not only a millionaire, he is "the man" of the tiny town. Everyone knows Keller Architecture and everyone knows of Paul. See Paul lost his wife to a drowning accident, even though she was an excellent swimmer. She was also more loaded than Paul. Soooo you do the math.

I loved this book! It was mysterious from start to finish. I didn't know if I should love Charlotte or hate her. Am I #teamcharlotte? Read for yourself and I think you will figure it out. I especially loved the whole secluded lake environment. It gave the story a creepy vibe. The Kellers had a gorgeous home that Paul had designed, with huge windows that faced the lake. Which was fantastic during the day, but at night...well night is a different story. The windows are so huge they don't have window dressings, what is the need anyway, they have no immediate neighbors. Yet as a murder happens right in front of their windows, unbeknownst to them...well it got a bit creepy. Who is out there and who is looking in? I am getting goosebumps thinking about it!


One dead body in the lake, well ok...two dead bodies in the lake...umm ok...three dead...Houston we have a problem! Mysterious, creepy, page-turner! This book had it all for me. Add it to the list of all the other books I love by this author!

Loved it ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ 5 big hearts for this one!!!!!

Paul Keller had been married before. His wife died a little over four years ago.... in a drowning accident.

‘Surprise’, Charlotte was pregnant - not planned- with Paul’s baby - her new husband - eleven years older than she was. Charlotte had only known Paul for about a year. Everyone from their town said it would never work. We will soon discover much more of what will never work.

Paul was 37 years old, a wealthy widower, who owned Keller Architecture. His clients were privileged, demanding, and entitled. His clients liked Paul because he was one of them.
Charlotte had been a gas station clerk... ( a trailer-park girl), from the poor side of town of Lake Cosby, North Carolina.
She now worked part-time for Paul.....( her role was client relations), and Charlotte’s most important role was being Paul’s new young pregnant wife.

Paul’s mother and town folks won’t believe Charlotte’s pregnancy was an accident. They’ll say that Paul was trapped.
“Sugar daddy, sugar baby, baby daddy”.
The people in town think that Charlotte married Paul for his money. She didn’t.
Charlotte married Paul for love— and she loved all the things he could provide.

We get back story not only on Charlotte and Paul, butt also on Jax Edwards, and Micah Hunt, ( friend/ connections to Paul),
“Jax Edwards — was the local town loon, a “raggedy bearded boogeyman”, who lived in the woods. Most people turn away from him, either out of pity or fear, but not Charlotte.
“Micah Hunt - was the best underwater criminal investigator and hundreds of miles”.....but he’ll never be good enough for his father- Chief Hunt.
Charlotte liked Micah - he never made her feel Paul was slumming by choosing her - ( gas station attendant girl from a trailer park)....and he had more daddy issues than she did.

For Paul,......Jax was a painful subject, he didn’t like to talk about”
“Once upon a time, Jax had everything going for him. High school prom king and star quarterback, the golden boy with a golden future, and one of Paul’s two best friends”.
Paul, Jax, and Micah....were all close buddies in High School. We will see just how complicated those relationships were.
Other relationships- people in this town complicate things more

At the center of the story…a woman, “Sienna’, was found dead in the lake. Presumably.... whoever killed her lived in this town of Crosby Lake.

Kimberly Belle has a talent for intertwisted - tangly - mussed up storytelling. She’s becoming a psychological thriller-household name for readers who indulge pleasure into this genre.
Not sure this was Belle’s top rated book.... but we are drawn into a web of intrigue — with interesting characters:
Paul.....was out running all the time -
Jax....found solace in the woods -
Micah....wanted to be his own man- not have his father- Chief Hunt- dictate his life.
Sam Kincaid.... was a cop from Charlotte’s side of town....the ‘poor’ side of the mountain. He had been friends with Charlotte before she married Paul.
Chet was Charlotte’s - often needy - brother. But ...Charlotte loved him. He moved in with a woman named Annalee. They were constantly breaking up and getting back together again.

Lake Cosby was the only town in the southern Appalachians perched at the edge of the water, which made it a popular tourist spot. Most of the businesses were pretentious… Farm-to-table restaurants, a specialty fudge shop, and specialty boutiques.
I enjoyed the setting-landscape descriptions as much as the mystery thriller story itself.

This psychological mystery murder thriller had plenty to chew on...
Lots of gossip, secrets, lies, and rumors about who- what- and why Sienna was killed - how her death connected to Paul’s first wife’s death ...
Who lied
Who cheated
Who had an alibi and who didn’t

“Extenuating circumstance”.....are words you’ll find in this novel to explain why the past - and secrets - were not understood.

Great beach pick or ‘middle-of-the-night’ read for insomnia folks.

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing, Netgalley, and Kimberly Belle

I had the opportunity to download this book from Net Galley as an early reader/reviewer. This is the first book of Ms. Belle's that I have read and I will be looking for more from her!

Paul, Micah, and Jax have all been friends since high school. Paul ended up wealthy, Micah an underwater investigator, and Jax homeless. Charlie (who changed her name to Charlotte) was a few years behind them and ended up married to Paul, four years after the death of his first wife, Katherine.

Enter a dead body found under the Kellers' deck (Paul and Charlotte).

Enter an unsolved case from 20 years ago ... tied together with the most recent death by a necklace.

Mix two unsolved murders in with a whole bunch of lies that are hard to keep straight.

Just when you think you have figured out who the bad guy is ... the whodunnit ... Ms. Belle throws in a twist for an ending you aren't expecting. Well done, Ms. Belle, well done!

Another great thriller by Kimberly Belle which I quickly devoured in 2 days. Full of suspense with old secrets and new secrets from the very first page. Did not want to put it down and I found myself sneaking around to read it. And the twist at the end was the “icing on the cake” that I did not see coming. Very well done Kimberly Belle! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release in exchange for my honest review.

I was given this book by NetGalley for an honest review -
I absolutely devoured this book - what a page turner -
Charlotte who came from a horrible childhood marries Paul, a widower who the gossips thought murdered his wife for her money.
And then another body is found in the water and signs once again point to Paul.
What secrets is Paul hiding? Does Charlotte need to worry? Is there more going on here than one knows?

Dear Wife by Kimberly Belle was one of my favorite books of 2019! I remember sitting on the couch reading it one afternoon and not getting up until I was done reading. So, of course, I was eager to read her follow-up, Stranger in the Lake.

Kimberly is a talented writer who knows how to keep a reader guessing and wondering what is going to happen next. In this book, the main character Charlotte is married to Paul, a wealthy older man. His wife died in the lake behind his beautiful house and when Charlotte discovers a woman dead in the water much like his first wife, the alarm bells start sounding and its just too much of a coincidence. Is she in danger? And who is this woman?

When Charlotte married the wealthy widower Paul, it caused a ripple of gossip in their small lakeside town. They have a charmed life together, despite the cruel whispers about her humble past and his first marriage. But everything starts to unravel when she discovers a young woman’s body floating in the exact same spot where Paul’s first wife tragically drowned.

At first, it seems like a horrific coincidence, but the stranger in the lake is no stranger. Charlotte saw Paul talking to her the day before, even though Paul tells the police he’s never met the woman. His lie exposes cracks in their fragile new marriage, cracks Charlotte is determined to keep from breaking them in two.

As Charlotte uncovers dark mysteries about the man she married, she doesn’t know what to trust—her heart, which knows Paul to be a good man, or her growing suspicion that there’s something he’s hiding in the water.

The story alternates between present-day Charlotte and the murder mystery surrounding this woman, and twenty years ago, when Paul was close friends with Jax and Micah. Back then, an accident took place that they buried in the past but is it coming back to haunt them?

This book is a solid mystery and I liked it. I enjoyed the present-day parts more, I was wondering who Charlotte could trust and I didn’t want to believe that Paul was a murderer. I had a lot of questions that were ultimately answered. I have to point out that the setting of this story was great, I felt so cold and damp and shivery with the backdrop of the woods and lake.

Coming out on June 9! Pre-order here.

What another great book by Ms. Belle! I know when I get a Kimberly Belle book in my hands that it won't take me long at all to devour it. Over the span of two days, I was pulled into Charlotte's world... starting with her telling her husband she's pregnant, to finding a dead girl under her dock (the 2nd one to show up since her husband has lived there). Is it a coincidence? Why is her husband acting strangely and lying to the police and why does Charlotte cover for him? I thought this was a really good story. Although the surprises weren't earth-shattering, I still needed to know the whys behind them all.

Wow! I would love to see this novel as a movie!
This is a suspense, murder (more than one), thriller that I zoomed through to find out "who done it"!
I could not believe the ending and the entire story was amazing!
This book is told in a dual timelines to add more suspense and anxiety as I was attempting to solve the puzzle.
I always enjoy Kimberly Belle's books and have now read five. They just get better and better!
If you enjoy great mysteries, read it. You will not want to miss "Stranger in the Lake"!

Charlie, “Charlotte”, a young girl marries Paul, a wealthy widower from the wealthy side of town. Newly married, she finds a body underneath their dock, the same place is deceased wife was found.

Another hit by Kimberly. I thought I figured it out, but not a chance. Wonderful character development and beautiful writing.

After a woman is found dead under the dock, Charlie starts to wonder who is the man she married? Who killed this woman? Everyone is hiding something and feeling guilt.
This was a quick enjoyable read. I didn’t like it as much as I like the other Kimberly Belle books, I just couldn’t connect with the characters. But it was still thrilling and enjoyable and I still couldn’t put it down because I wanted to know who done it. Highly recommend this book if you love books that book you in and you can’t put down.
Many thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this and leave an honest review.

This fast paced and intriguing book is fantastic! It will keep you on your toes and guessing the answers to many secrets hidden in this lake town. Be ready to drop everything else to finish this engaging thriller!

An edge of your seat, whodunnit mystery! I couldn’t put this down. Ms Belle is amazing! Great character development. I couldn’t figure this one out! 5 stars. Thank you NetGalley.

Stranger in the Lake is a very suspenseful story and one that has lots of secrets going on. The story has many characters but the two main characters are a married couple, Charlotte and Paul.
What would you do to keep a 20 year old secret?
If you like to read intense psychological books with a intriguing twist at the end, this is a book you will want to read.
Kimberly Belle’s writing draws you in and you just have to keep reading to the very end.
Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review this book. This is my honest true and honest opinion.