The Lie in Our Marriage

The Lie in Our Marriage by Anna-Lou Weatherley is the sixth book in the Detective Dan Riley series. I requested the ARC on NetGalley not knowing that it is part of a series. Damn, I loved this one so much that I have added the rest of the books to my TBR!

Maggie and Len, a loving couple, are celebrating their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary at their home with their friends and family. Good music, great food, laughter, and cheer flow freely, making their day even more special. While the guests are enjoying themselves, Maggie runs to the attic to get her husband his surprise gift. While she is striving to retrieve the item, she stumbles upon a scarf that is not hers. It smells faintly familiar, and much to her horror, it is covered with blood.

Filled with doubts and worry, she returns to the party. Her horrendous thoughts come to life when she comes across the news—A local girl has been found murdered, and draped across her neck is the scarf she had just discovered.

Her first suspect is her husband, and the thought fills her with disgust. His behaviour and a few other events lead her to believe her suspicions are not unfounded.

While she contemplates how best to deal with the situation, an unexpected opportunity comes her way and she grabs it, hoping that it’s the best solution to her problem. Unfortunately, it is not so… poor Maggie!

My goodness, I was so engrossed in reading it; I did not expect the story to end in this manner. There are plenty of red herrings and an unexpected twist. It was mind-blowing!

The story has a dual narrative—Maggie’s in the 3^rd POV and Dan’s in the 1^st POV. It worked well in drawing me in.

Not just the lead characters, but even the minor characters are well-sketched. I really loved Dan’s persona. He is charming, smart, a thorough professional, and uncompromising in his investigation.

Maggie and Len’s relationship is so beautiful, especially the part about him leaving Hershey’s kisses on her side table every night.

Even though the initial pace is a little slow, it picks up quite soon. It’s just perfect for the genre.

It’s slightly predictable in bits, but that doesn’t dampen the reading pleasure.

There were a few spelling and grammatical errors. But this is an uncorrected ARC, and I hope the editor/publisher would rectify them before the book is out.

The Lie in Our Marriage is a brilliant psychological thriller. Readers who love a typical whodunnit will enjoy this tremendously.

Thanks to Bookoutre via NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel. All opinions expressed are my own.

Wordsopedia Rating 4.3/5

Buy your copy here on Amazon

About the author

Anna-Lou Weatherley was born in Hampshire and grew up in London, where she still lives with her partner and two children. Get in touch with the author on Twitter