I loved this & stayed up way too late finishing it. So many twists that kept me guessing … every time I thought I figured out what was going on there was another reveal. The descriptions of food are (mostly) mouth-watering. At times stuff got a little gory for me, but not enough to put the book down. If you’re a foodie at all, you’ll enjoy this.

Don’t believe everything you read, even if it comes from a talented chef that families love. Jealousy, secrets, and lies don’t make a good combination when it comes to running a business. The consequences could be bad.

I really enjoyed Delicate by this author, and this one WHOA! The reader is very aware "something is not right here", and Valentine takes us on a ride full of WTF moments, inspiring theories of what REALLY happened that keeps those pages turning until the very end.

Thank you NetGalley! I love this author and couldn’t wait to read her newest novel. This book was great and made me laugh. I loved that it included recipes in it. Definitely a different kind of book

An eerie, gothic-tinged thriller with possible cannibalism, yes, please! The Dead Husband Cookbook has just about everything: mystery, intrigue, family secrets, and even recipes. The choice of meat is at your discretion.

Thea is an editor hoping to save her career when she gets the opportunity to work with Maria, a celebrity chef. The project is a memoir that will finally address the issue of her missing husband. All Thea has to do is come to work on the book at Maria's farm.

The slow build of tension and the isolation serve as an atmospheric backdrop to this intense story. The pacing is fantastic, as everything culminates in a very satisfying conclusion with plenty of twists.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Okay. That was a wild ride, complete with recipes.

Thea is a literary editor with a toddler (and a toddler of a husband), walking on eggshells at work because of a misstep that pretty much derailed her career and cost the publishing house big time. She's afraid when her boss calls her into her office she's going to be fired. Instead, she's gifted with the opportunity to edit the memoir of a famous TV celebrity chef, who demanded specifically that Thea be her editor.

What is happening?

Maria Capello is the chef in question and she has quite the history. Her husband disappeared mysteriously decades ago and she's never discussed it in public. Now she wants Thea to help her tell the story.

The cover of this novel lets you know what's inside. It's horror, it's true crime, it's celebrity. Thea enters the funhouse and finds the glamorous facade covers an audacious past.

I was on edge the whole time, never quite sure what was around the corner.

My thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the Advance Reader Copy. (pub. date 8/5/2025)

Though I've heard of Danielle Valentine, I hadn't read her books when I requested this title. Although it wasn't as gruesome as I thought (hoped?) it would be, I gobbled it down like the family's beloved meatballs. It could be slow at times, but it didn't deter me from wanting to know what happened next. A fun read!

The dead husband cookbook is a fun and gory late summer romp that will keep the pages turning. Marie capello was a famous chef whose husband was murdered and she took the blame from the media and society for his death. Rumors circulated that her famous meatballs were made with the bones and flesh of her husbands missing body Years later, Marie is ready to tell her story and contacts thea woods to write her tell-all memoir. Needing to redeem herself from her last writing mistake for her publishing company, Thea accepts and is whisked away to the rustic capello farm where she is wrapped up in the tight knit capello family and isolated from her own. As Marie starts to tell her story and the story of her husband, Thea realizes how much her own story starts to resemble Marie’s-and the outcome isn’t one she is expecting.

Murder, mystery, cannibalism, family dynamics, twists-this book has many fun elements that make for a perfect late summer read. Pleasantly surprised by how fun and page turning this one was and how much I enjoyed it! This is more of 4.5/5 than straight 4. The only thing holding it back from a true 5 was I saw many of the last minute twists coming, but still enjoyable reading.

Thanks to the publisher for providing this arc via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was hooked once I started reading this book! It wasn't at all what I expected once I dove in, there were several twists some were obvious some not so much. If you have a sensitive stomach I would prepare yourself for this, overall a pretty good book. Chapters were a bit long but the recipes in the book were a good touch.

I was pleasantly surprised at the concept— there are many mysteries focusing on chefs and bakers, but not TV chefs, and The Dead Husband Cookbook takes the concept and runs with it!

The Dead Husband Cookbook has it all—a missing husband, a multi-layered, multiyear mystery, and possibly a bit of mystery meat in the recipe.

Definitely recommended for the mystery fan and new readers alike: 4 3/4 stars

Just… wow. This book absolutely took every preconceived notion I had and blew them out of the water 😅 Every time I thought I had an idea of where it was going, there was a twist. I loved the unique concept, the complex characters, the intermittent flashbacks, the moments of unreliable narration, and the suspense. The Dead Husband Cookbook is a must-read for me for 2025!! RUN to the book store to grab a copy of this one!

SYNOPSIS: Thea is an editor struggling to rebuild her reputation after a recent scandal involving one of her authors. On the brink of losing her job, she’s understandably stunned when the reclusive celebrity chef Maria Capello requests her specifically to edit her autobiography. Maria’s past is storied, with wild rumors circulating since her husband’s untimely death and her suspicious subsequent rise to fame; rumors that swing between clichéd soap opera drama and cannibalistic horror story. The book promises to be a tell-all, and is sure to be an instant bestseller. But Maria has one request: Thea may only edit the book on-site at her remote farmhouse in downstate NY. Almost immediately, things aren’t adding up, and Thea starts to fear for her safety. But deprived of cell and WiFi access, she’s truly on her own, and surviving finding out the truth is going to take every bit of her cunning.

This book had all the features that I love so dearly- food, murder mystery, and a good twist. I tend to gravitate towards books that delve into the human psyche, and learning about Maria and her story kept my attention. The things we uncover, as the readers, as the story moves along just gets darker and darker.

Off topic but another element I love is when the main character works in some sort of literary career (see: Verity or The Hating Game, two of my faves). That's what drew me to this story in the first place. Add all of these elements together and you've got one solid book imo!!

Thank you to Net Galley & Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC!

“A good chef has to be okay with a little mess.”

Oh, this one is FUN. 🥩🥩🥩

I’ve been on a roll with badass books about books, including The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark and Play Nice by Rachel Harrison (which I’ll be reviewing closer to pub day).

Beleaguered book editor Thea gets a career-making opportunity to edit A-list celebrity chef Maria Cappello’s tell-all memoir. 30 years ago, Maria’s husband, also a celeb chef, disappeared—will she finally reveal what happened that night?

It's twisty, gory, unsettling, and a total page-turner; I couldn’t put it down. You’ll definitely want to grab this one tomorrow. ❤️‍🔥

I love how unique all of Danielle’s books are. Delicate Condition? Amazingly eerie body horror. Two Sides to Every Murder? Very fun YA murder mystery. Such a talented author. 🤌

I went into this one with the wrong expectations, and that may have hurt my overall reading experience. I really loved Valentine’s last adult novel, Delicate Condition, which was also a thriller/horror blend, but had an added literary element to it with sharp commentary about women’s experiences with the healthcare system, particularly prenatal care. So, I expected this to have something more to say, but it ended up being a standard thriller.

There were a few issues I had outside of my expectations being off. I found the first 70% or so of this to be pretty repetitive. Aside from Maria’s memoir passages and recipes, every chapter felt like the same thing over and over again to me. Thea goes on and on about the same handful of fears and thoughts, both about the present moment and her past. To be honest, it made me dislike her quite a bit.

This was also too predictable for me, which isn’t something I can really ignore when it comes to a thriller. The main reason I read a thriller is for the shocking twists and the fun that comes with those surprises. I was able to foresee the outcome of the many threads we were following, and even if my guess wasn’t 100% accurate, it was close enough that when the truth was finally revealed, I was unmoved.

I do have to give props for the fact that there are absolutely no loose ends—I had a running list of questions that needed answering (that very easily could have become plot holes), but they were all answered in the end.

I also liked the mixed media elements in here. We have a book within a book (a manuscript) as well as news articles and recipes, and those helped to make this more of an immersive experience.

Despite the couple of issues I had, I do think a lot of people are going to like this one and have fun with it, especially if they go into it with the right expectations, or if they’re just a fan of thrillers in general.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the EArc.

I was very excited for another Danielle Valentine adult horror novel after loving Delicate Condition. I enjoy that Danielle writes from with motherhood as a main aspect of her horror stories. At first I was disappointed because it seemed like this was going to be more mystery than horror, but then it really kicked up a notch and became creepy.

I enjoyed the locked room aspect of Maria insisting Thea come in secrecy, surrender her phone, her car, and not provide wifi. It's hard to accomplish a locked room feeling in today's society because we are all so connected, but it worked here and made sense to the story.

I loved that it was a book within a book, with another story intertwined. I also enjoyed the actual recipes included and plan to try some of them out. While I did enjoy the overall story, I found myself eager to get to the next "chapter" of Maria's story and found her story within more interesting than the main one.

By the end, there still was some horror as promised, but a lot of the creepiness was implied. I think this is a good recommendation for fans of The Food Network.

Characters: 4.25⭐️
Setting: 4.00⭐️
Plot: 4.25⭐️
Themes: 4.00⭐️
Personal enjoyment: 4.25⭐️
Emotional Impact: 4.00⭐️
Overall rating: 4.25⭐️

Maria Cappello is a celebrity chef who had an illustrious career all after her husband, famous chef in his own right, Damien is found dead and it was ruled a suicide. Now years later, she is ready to tell her story after conspiracy theories and rumors flood her world about what really happened to Damien. Thea, an editor at a small publishing house, is requested by Maria herself even though Thea practically ruined her career by outing a predatory politician. Thea is invited to Maria's house in upstate New York under odd conditions and maybe really discover what her secret ingredient is.

Summerween is in full effect. I really loved this story. Thea is a stressed out mom with a young daughter who is trying to balance home and work life. She is takes on this editorial job so she will not get fired, so when she going to Maria's all the weirdness starts like the slaughterhouse on her property, her oddly articulate 4-year old granddaughter and her own children who have their own oddness. This was a rich thriller with some nuances that make you question everything throughout the story. This really was an enjoyable and fast paced thriller.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, I would.

A slow-simmering, gothic-tinged thriller that had me side-eyeing every locked door, every recipe, and every polite smile.

Thea Woods, a disgraced book editor, takes a career-saving job editing the memoir of Maria Capello—a world-famous chef whose husband vanished decades ago. His body was never found, but the rumors never stopped. Whisked away to Maria’s isolated farmhouse, Thea finds herself cut off from the outside world and immersed in a memoir that’s equal parts confession, recipe book, and mystery novel.

Danielle Valentine nails the atmosphere: eerie isolation, rich culinary details, and a “book within a book” that’s so compelling I would’ve happily read it on its own. The pacing builds beautifully, starting with simmering unease and ending with a satisfying, well-seasoned twist.

If you like your thrillers with a side of dark family secrets, The Menu-style tension, and just a pinch of “please don’t tell me the secret ingredient,” this one’s for you.

🥩 Dead Husband Cookbook 🥩

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I really enjoyed this one! The twists were well done and I’m making a plans to try all the recipes included but without the secret ingredient of course. Thank you @netgalley for the opportunity to read. This was released today.

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Based on the beginning of this book, I do not have the stomach to finish. It made me queasy just reading about the stench of rotten meat.

You know with a title like that, we’re in for a ride to prove men are just insufferable. Thea gets the opportunity of a lifetime when close to a career ending move she is chosen to champion a new memoir of The MARIA CAPELLO, chef extraordinaire but most importantly, surviving widow of the infamous Damien who dies of a mysterious supposed suicide. Will this be her chance to tell the truth? And why was Thea chosen in the first place?

An interesting premise but it was the little moments I enjoyed more. The daughter Ruthie was delightful and written so in line of childhood. The family moments and watching the husband interact- or at least act like he was making an effort stood out the most. The random recipe cards while on point for the plot felt like filler pages overall and I could do without. I appreciate the research and detail the writer gave to the butchering shop type moments.

An easy breezy read, but once we hit our main setting, things were way too convenient. Characters were too stereotypical, too predictable. I didn’t care for Thea when she interacted with Maria or the rest of Maria’s family for most of the book. It was like every little thought of common sense just flew out Thea’s head. And I couldn’t buy the naïveté vibe that was written for her. Thea was the dumbest smart person. Our unreliable narrator was a character that was proven she wasn’t trustworthy but then spent most a lot of the book questioning everyone else’s motives and why they weren’t trusting of her.

With a promising premise, this just wasn’t clever enough to save it or really make it stand out. Especially with such a cool cover. I enjoyed the dynamic between Thea, her husband, and daughter but it was few and far in between. The plot finally delivers at the last 30% so is that worth it for the first 70? It is a pretty great last 30%.