It’s Always the Husband by C.L. Taylor is set in Lowbridge, a small town where everyone knows everyone’s business. Jude and her daughter, Millie, moved to Lowbridge to start a new life after her divorce. Jude is attracted to Will, the father of Milly’s best friend, Betsy. Jude soon realises that Will is at the centre of the town gossip as a suspect. He has had two wives. The first one, Allison, died accidentally, and the second one, Robyn, is missing and presumed dead.
Before long, Jude and Will become the subject of discussion among the mums at the school gate. The narrative is presented from multiple points of view and in brief chapters. Various characters have their reasons for distrusting Will, but Jude remains resolute in her determination to prove them wrong.
The author's skill in intertwining various characters enhances the suspense and mystery, enriched with well-placed red herrings. This creates an engaging narrative that makes it difficult to put the book down. The book is undeniably compelling, with numerous intricate plots and unexpected twists. The surprise at the end!
I highly recommend this book.

I have only recently discovered C.LTaylor and this is the 3rd book of hers I have read.
This book involves the lives of the "mamas" at the school gates, the Queen Bee that everyone panders to that leads the PTA and all her worshippers. The mamas are not as good friends as they think with many just looking for the gossip.
The plot certainly kept be intrigued and I thoroughy enjoyed reading it.
A must read!

Thank you to Netgalley, C.L.Taylor and Avon Books UK for an ARC in return for an honest review.

Well, it's fair to say that CL Taylor has done it again. Created a story which is rich in intrigue and misdirection, with characters that I rarely (if ever) trusted, some I loved to hate, and which exposed the bias that is inherent in society, including all of us readers. Given the unique set of circumstances of this story, it is perhaps not all that unreasonable that many of the characters we meet have rushed to judgement, and condemnation, of single father, Will, but, much like Jude tries to, you'd think we readers especially would keep an open mind, wouldn't you?

Jude, recently divorced, has moved herself and her daughter, Betsy, to the town of Lowbridge to be nearer to her sister. There she has been systematically avoiding falling in with the 'school gate Mums' crowd, particularly their self-proclaimed queen bee, Victoria. Now, it is easy to see why that might be - let's just say that they are an eclectic and not always easy to like bunch - but Jude soon finds that she has good reason to get to known the mums better, that reason being mainly, Will. The more she learns about him, the more determined she is to prove that he is not all that the mum suspect him to be, little knowing that it's not actually a colony of bees she's moving in. It's really a hornet's nest and one of them is really angry. Murderously so as it happens.

The author has really captured that exaggerated School Mum vibe within the pages of this book, as well as a whole lot of 'keeping up with the Jones's' shenanigans. It is clear that none of the so called friendships that Jude bears witness too are of any great substance, and this just adds to the way in which suspicion and conflict build within the narrative, making the whole story about far more than the tragically echoing nature of Will's loss of not one, but two partners in recent years. That would be plenty to get tongues wagging, and it certainly captured my imagination, but it turns out there is far more going on in Lowbridge, and getting to the bottom of it might prove deadly.

There is a perfect blend of mystery and tension in the book, as well as a very varied cast of characters. In fact, you might call some of them misfits, with one at least being so vastly different to Victoria that you wonder just how they ended up in her sphere in the first place. Add in some interesting side stories which also prove to be quite detrimental to certain character's health and you have a story which can keep you guessing to the end. I liked the use of multiple perspectives, adding layers to the narrative and providing more insight than we'd have been able to glean via Jude alone. With the additional conflict that comes from people moving in and out of lives that are wholly mismatched for each other, and more secrets being kept than you could possibly imagine, and you have the dry tinder just waiting for that on incendiary spark. And boy does that spark come, but perhaps not in the way I was expecting.

With secrets and lies being the catch all for this particular group of 'friends', and twists coming right to the very end, this is another book I think fans of the author are just going to eat up. As the title suggests, when a woman is killed or goes missing, you always look to the home, or more specially, the husband or boyfriend first. In this case it's more a case of which husband, or even which home, as none of them are exactly squeaky clean. Like Desperate Housewives but with way more drama. Loved it.

Set in a small town called Lowbridge. The story centres around a group of clicky school mums and their lives. Jude has recently moved to the area and is instantly attracted to single dad, Will. However, Will’s first wife died and his girlfriend disappeared…..

The story is packed full of accusations, secrets and affairs… but is all as it seems?

I was instantly drawn into this story.

The story was told through multiple pov and I enjoyed the alternating pov as it added to the mystery and suspense of the story.

I loved seeing how the characters linked and I was really surprised to discover what was actually going on… also the last few pages really had me questioning what I thought I’d figured out!

Thank you so much to Avon books and Netgalley for the advance copy of this book. Opinions expressed here are my own.

This was the first book that I’ve read by this author and I’m keen to read more. I highly recommend Its Always The Husband 4.5⭐️

haha did you see all the holy moly other authors that wrote a bit of praise for this book. well if thats not lighting up Taylor's life it will mine! wow. and if you dont know this author and know anything she touches is spine tingly good then where have you been and what have you been reading. for she is the master of the books she writes. they are 100 top notch, go straight into your to keep forever pile.
and this one takes us right into the lioness den. oh yes the "school run and school gates" where gossip is rife right? but gossip about a man and what happened to his dead wife? eeeh thats a little brave even for that kind of conversation stirring. and now Jude must figure out who to trust. and her life and love might just depend on it. for shes knew here and is falling for Will who is her daughters best friends dad. but Will hasnt just got a dead wife, hes got a missing girlfriend too. just what is going on here and should the gates gossipers be believed?
it feels like the reader is one of these at the gates. just the quiet one watching from the corner. and we feeeeeel the tension and things unsaid grow. we watch veins pop and muscles clench. and you wonder yourself who is to be believed. should we go to stereotype and think the woman are just rubbish stirrers out for making idle gossip with disgusting undertones. or are they strong woman coming together and fighting the good fight in the only way they know how. and what about the dads, men....will?
oooooooh its so good. and you will want to read this one. you will want to be kept guessing and you will want to question everything until Taylor reveals her cunning plan. the ending. brilliant.

This novel is the story of Jude and by extension the other mothers she has befriended at the local school gate. Jude’s new to Lowbridge and doesn’t know anything about the reputation of single dad Will but she can’t escape the rumour mill when they see her with him. Will’s previous girlfriend went missing and he has a dead wife so it’s clear for some that he’s the one responsible. After all, it’s always the husband, isn’t it? Coincidence or is Jude wise to heed the warnings of Victoria’s posse and stay away from him?

There are different POV’s and the story includes several couples of the mum clique and with some digging you’ll find there’s more than one hidden agenda among them. One of the mums is being blackmailed and she suspects her husband of wrongdoing, another is being spied on… there’s a lot to uncover here and it kept me guessing who might be so devious. In all honesty, the vibe that this was all coming from a man was missing for me but I didn’t know who was behind it. I enjoyed the mystery and suspicion among the characters. I love books where there’s lots going on so this one served me well, although I did feel some of the mums were a bit bland, only Victoria really stood out for me. Not a complete surprise then that I was completely blindsided in the end either. The final lines were perfect to leave with though I think reading those final words made my heart miss a beat after all.

For me, The Fear is still my all-time favorite read by this author but I do recommend this one to those who like mysteries and domestic suspense.

This one gave me mean girls/desperate housewives vibes and the story was good and kept me intrigued but the ending definitely felt very rushed. Also felt like I was left with questions at the end.

Oooh I loved the concept of this - and it lived up to my expectations and more! As a person who really disliked the school gates and school mum cliques and gossip - I’m certainly not averse to reading about it and getting involved through the pages of a book! Lots of interesting characters to get stuck into, loads of twists and turns and plenty of really entertaining moments. And the ending! Oooooooh it’s a good one. So yes, I would definitely recommend this book, a really enjoyable book and one to devour quickly.

I really enjoyed this read. It had me hooked right at the start and I kept going. I liked the setting of the school run parents, and instantly wanted to know more about them all. I did not imagine the twist and I was guessing and wondering all throughout. A couple of times I felt angry at one or two of them! Really got me engaged. It is a good story with characters that will have you wanting to learn more and keep reading to see what exactly has gone on here!

Is it always the husband? Only one way to find out!

Really enjoyed this school gate thriller (although it did give me flashbacks to running the gauntlet of the mummy mafia when my children were little!).

Jude is new to the area and captures the attention of the school mums immediately, particularly when she strikes up a friendship with single dad Will.

With a backdrop of a mysterious accident of Will's first wife Robyn and the tittle tattle of the playground mums convinced he killed her, you are never quite sure of the truth and there are many twists and turns.

Loved it. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Jude and her daughter reluctantly become part of the school gate group in the small town they move to called Lowbridge. Gossip and whispers are rife and after Jude runs into Will, rumours swirl. Fellow mother Victoria is nosy and assertive and has domestic issues. She has warnings for Jude who can see right through her. But her little ones are her soft spot. Everyone has secrets, some better kept than others. Not only is there theft, unfaithfulness and blackmail but also disappearance and suspicious death. Add domestic drama, taut tension and addictive suspense and voila...the perfect storm. Snippets of home life angst, flawed characters and (dis)trust tied in flawlessly. I like the layer the kids' relationships with their parents added, a constant of sorts, in spite of the pain of tragedy. One or two of the characters surprised me in their development and growth.

The multiple perspective story is cleverly written and the pace is snappy. Few of the characters are likeable but I was engrossed nonetheless and itched to find out what was lurking around the next bend. What fun to connect the dots only to discover there were more! The ending is Chef's kiss. Absolutely stellar. I really, really enjoyed this one. My only quibble was encountering frequent F-bombs.

This was an enjoyably twisty thriller with the school gate clique and their partners both suspected and suspicious of murder and blackmail in their community. It was a fun page turner and a good ending, but, even though I read it in two sittings, I did find a lot of the characters a bit interchangeable and forgot the relationships between them.
Thank you to netgalley and Avon books for an advance copy of this book.

C.L. Taylor’s It’s Always the Husband is a great psychological suspense story, delivering a gripping narrative that kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish.

Set in the seemingly tranquil town of Lowbridge, the story follows Jude, a newly divorced woman who moves to the area with her daughter. She quickly becomes entangled with Will, a widower whose past is shrouded in tragedy. The community whispers about the deaths of his two wives, and as Jude delves deeper into his history, she uncovers secrets that challenge her perceptions and threaten her safety.

This story revolves around a group of school mums - gossips of the town and their latest victims are Jude and Will!
Did Will have something to do with both his wives deaths? Is it always the husband?
There are quite a few characters but I became invested in each one quite quickly. The sharp and evocative writing style creates tension and unease that permeates every page. The pace is very fast and ends with a satisfying conclusion. I love CL Taylor’s books and this one is one of my favourites so far.

This one is a must for your summer TBR!

Thank you to Avon Books and NetGalley for the advanced copy to read and review

Single mum Jude is relatively new to the area of Lowbridge and doesn't want to become embroiled in school gate politics with the other mothers. The only person she's really clicked with is single dad Will. There's an attraction between the pair until one of the other mothers goes out of her way to warn Jude that both of Will's wives died under suspicious circumstances.

C. L. Taylor has written such a twisted story with It's Always The Husband that I felt dizzy every time I picked up the book. At times I thought I was going to follow the practice of TV detectives and put up a murder wall filled with suspects, clues and red wool linking everything just to keep track of everything that was happening. What begins as a warning to Jude about Will quickly spirals into a complex web of lies, deceit, blackmail and murder.

I liked Jude's character, she isn't intimidated by the school gate posse of mothers, she just doesn't want to get dragged into the politics. However, she's aware that she needs to play her part for the sake of her daughter, the reason they've moved to the area. One of the other mothers, Sorrell, seems to stick to the periphery too and is approachable. Sorrell has issues at home and doesn't need to be caught up in playground machinations.

Initially, the group of mothers who seem to dominate proceedings come across as bitchy and unlikeable, particularly their leader, Victoria. Victoria likes to be in control and to know everything that is going on, to her knowledge is power. In the process of going through a less than amicable divorce little does she realise how little knowledge and power she truly has.

Piqued by the comments regarding Will's wives, alongside her attraction to the man, Jude flirts with danger as she tries to learn more. Pretty soon both Sorrell and Victoria are dragged into the investigation as it becomes apparent they have links to at least one of the dead women.

As clues are uncovered you are left gasping at the intricate way everything is woven together. I couldn't even begin to pinpoint a suspect. The more that was revealed, the more I felt my sympathies towards certain characters changing, some for the better and some for the worse. The author keeps the reader dangling thanks to one particular plot line so that the big reveal is a complete shock.

Thanks for the early review copy.

This is author is new to me.

What a fantastic read and story line.

Very well written.

A must read for fans of thrillers!
This was faced paced, filled with twists and turns, lots of secrets, and some interesting characters. This is told in multiple POVs, but seamless to follow. Hooked me from the start and left me reading all night to figure things out.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review

A solid thriller! Fast-paced, tension packed, and addictive. I enjoyed it a lot!

Thank you to NetGalley & Avon Books for the ARC!

I usually enjoy C.L. Taylor's writing, so I couldn't resist adding her newest story It's Always The Husband to my shelves. It's true that I'm reading less psychological thrillers these days, but I was curious about the blurb with the rumors around the previous women in Will's life... What I didn't realize was that It's Always The Husband is basically more domestic drama than thriller, and this is probably one of the reasons why this story just wasn't a good fit for me personally. I'm sure that if you enjoy stories with plenty of drama and secrets, you will enjoy your time with this book though!

So, It's Always The Husband. Before I continue, I have to once again stress that this is probably mostly an 'it's not you, it's me' problem I had with this story. Domestic dramas just don't seem to work all that well for me anymore in recent years, and if I had known just how much focus there was going to be on the domestic life of the characters I might have thought twice before picking up this book. If you enjoy the genre, please take this review with a grain of salt! But I'll try to explain what did and didn't work for me below.

There is just something about the way C.L. Taylor writes her stories that is extremely readable, and the short and snappy chapters in It's Always The Husband without doubt helped to keep turning those pages. I think where it went wrong for me had a lot to do with the huge amount of characters in play, and I almost felt like I should have taken notes as it was hard to keep them all apart. In fact, I had totally forgotten about one of the characters mentioned in one of the final twists altogether! The multiple POV structure didn't really help either, as the constant switching back and forth ment it was kind of hard to become invested in the lives of the different characters in play.

My main issue had definitely everything to do with all the drama though. Every single character seems to be having secrets, and while I do love a story with secrets to unravel, I have to actually LIKE the characters to be able to care. The majority of the characters were considerably unlikeable, and as a result I honestly couldn't care less about what happened to any of them. Jude is probably the most tolerable of them all, although she does make some very stupid decisions... The constant drama, bitching and backstabbing just got way too much for me to be able to enjoy the story, but if you like that kind of thing you will probably react completely different to this part of the plot.

There were a lot of twists involved, some a bit too predictable while others were simply too over the top to be credible. Sure, certain reveals towards the ending will definitely come as a surprise, but is it a good surprise? The jury is still out on that one. It definitely wasn't my favorite C.L. Taylor, but the writing itself was more than solid and this story should work a lot better if you are able to appreciate the domestic drama and don't mind a huge cast of characters.

This was a great read. The little town of Lowbridge appears to hold lots of secrets. We meet a group of local mums, some are friends with each other, some aren't. However, they are all members of a chat group and the focus of the town gossip is single dad, Will. Will's first wife died, and his second wife Robyn went missing. Of course, the consensus is that he killed them both, and when fellow single parent Jude becomes friendly with him, she needs to decide whether she believes him or the group of mums!

This was a gripping read which kept me on toes throughout wondering what was going on! The storyline initially begins where you wonder what happened to Robyn and if her husband Will had anything to do with her disappearance. The "leader" of the mums group is Victoria and she seems to be the main instigator of the gossip. There are lots of mums within the group and the chapters alternate between some of those mums, Jude, Sorrell and Victoria's perspectives. I did find the storyline a little complicated at the beginning, I think due to the number of characters and having to remember who was who, but as the story moved on and focussed on only a few characters it became more easier to understand and more enjoyable.

I loved the short chapters and found the switching between the different characters at each chapter held my attention more. Everyone seemed to have a secret or was involved in someone else's secret and you really needed to try and work out who was telling the truth and who was lying! There were lots of twists and turns which will definitely keep you guessing, and just when I thought I'd worked it all out, everything changed! This was a really interesting storyline which had me hooked and the ending was just brilliant!! Would recommend!

My first novel by this author and it didn’t disappoint. This book just keeps pulling you in after every chapter with new twists and turns leaving you guessing how this situation will end and who is involved. I would definitely recommend great page turner! Thanks to Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC. I will be reading more of C.L.Taylor's back catalogue.


When newly divorced Jude arrives in the small town of Lowbridge, she is soon drawn to the enigmatic Will, father to her young daughter's best friend.


But Will's devastating past holds questions that nobody knows the answer to – and after two tragedies tore his life apart in just a few short years, gossip and rumours abound about what really happened to the women he loved.