The Lie in our Marriage (Detective Dan Riley #6) by Anna-Lou Weatherley
Genre: Domestic thriller, Crime thriller, Police procedural
Read: 14th January 2023
Published: 18th January 2023
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
On a warm spring evening, guests gather in a perfectly manicured garden to celebrate Maggie and Len’s twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Maggie leans against the apple tree, watching her fun-loving husband and darling children as her heart swells with pride. As the joyful party atmosphere disappears into the night, close by, the lifeless body of a young woman is pulled from a river.
Slipping upstairs to find the special gift for her adoring husband, Maggie stumbles across something else hidden amongst the dusty boxes of family keepsakes…
A printed pink silky scarf that doesn’t belong to her. She holds it up to her face, breaths in the sweet sickly perfume, it’s scent familiar, and tendrils of fear snake through her body. The scarf is stained with blood.
As Maggie rejoins the party and tries to ignore her churning stomach, she pours herself a glass of champagne to toast the man she’s enjoyed decades of happy marriage with. Then she catches a news flash of the local girl’s murder. She stares at the girl with the beautiful face, long ice-blonde hair and, draped loosely around her neck, Maggie recognises it instantly. She’s wearing the scarf.
An utterly addictive and twisty read about the complex web of secrets within a family that will have you racing through to the mind-blowing end. If you love Lisa Jewell, Gillian Flynn and Behind Closed Doors, you won’t be able to put this down!
MY THOUGHTS:
Oh wow...this may be a crime thriller, a murder mystery filled with secrets, lies and all the usual stuff, but boy did I find it so incredibly sad by the end! I had tears as I read the final words that I could hardly see the page. They say hindsight is a wonderful thing...but it's also horribly unfortunate at times. And with it comes the haunting memories that fill you with "what ifs". That final chapter right down to the final words just made the entire story so incredibly sad.
It's a warm spring evening as guests gather in the beautifully manicured gardens to celebrate Maggie and Len's 25th wedding anniversay. There are speeches, memories recounted and fun times shared by all. Maggie watches her husband and remembers all the reasons she fell in love with him...how lucky she is to have been married to this wonderful man for twenty five years. And then she sees her children, Remy, busy taking selfies and her son Lewis with his pregnant girlfriend Casey she she counts her blessings at just how lucky she truly is. To have Len and her wonderful family gathered with their friends to celebrate this momentous occasion. And Maggie has something special planned for Len towards the end of the night.
With the party in full swing, Maggie quietly slips upstairs and into the loft for that special gift she kept tucked away under the eaves when she stumbles across something else hidden there. A silky scarf that doesn't belong to her. She holds it to her face and is enveloped in a sickly sweet perfume she's sure she recognises. But that's not all...amidst the silky pink material adorned with black skulls is a brownish abstract print...or is it blood? What does this mean? And who put it there?
Returning to the party, Maggie puts it from her mind...until she sees that same scarf just days later being worn by the woman whose body police had retrieved from the river the same day as the anniversary party. Surely not? But being linked to a murder victim and its very presence in her house leads Maggie to do some digging of her own...and she isn't sure she likes what she discovers. Paranoia sets in as Maggie begins to wonder about this Pandora's box she's opened. What is she to do with what she's discovered? How can she live with herself?
DCI Dan Riley is heading up the investigation into the body they pulled from the river and she is soon identified as Amelie Fox, a local instagrammer and influencer, with a vast social media following. He is joined by his "number two" DS Lucy Davis as together, with the help of their-behind-the-scenes team, investigate the young woman's death. We are not bogged down with procedure and red tape bureaucracy that adorns many other crime thriller series on the market but just enough to keep the pace moving and the story interesting.
Riley, as we know from past books, is married to Fiona with a daughter Juno who they affectionately call "Pip". But now Fiona is pregnant with their second child, another surprise by all accounts, which is hilariously alluded to by their forensic pathologist (recounted below).
"The sperm was still alive for some time after her death, and of course this gives us definitive DNA."
"Still alive?"
"Oh come on Dan - didn't you pay attention in biology class at school?"
My expression causes her to sigh. "No wonder both your wife's pregnancies were such a shock to you!"
But it doesn't end there. Weatherley's humour is peppered throughout, most of which by Maggie in relation to their neighbour Brenda who seemingly was always scantily clad with a cleavage even a blind man could see!
"Is she imagining it or is he staring at Brenda's cleavage? Hard not to really, she supposes, it was just so...there, in your face. It's a job not stare herself."
And Maggie's suspicious and overactive imagination have lead her to see things that may or may not be there...not least Brenda's cleavage. lol
"Maggie glances at Len but his expression hasn't changed. She's sure he's still slyly copping a look at Brenda's tits."
I just love Weatherley's humour that had me laughing in places. There's a strange sense of irony that that which had me laughing also brought me to tears by the story's end. And throughout the unfolding of discoveries Maggie made which left us desperate for the same answers, by the same token I thought it far too obvious. But who knows? The blindingly obvious could well be a red herring. And yet the twists kept coming.
I did find the pace slow off a little towards the middle with a bit of repetitiveness but it was still intriguing and I was still turning the pages wanting to know how it all panned out. I began to piece it all together just before Dan did. There is one character that you will just love to hate purely because he is a self-obsessed entitled misogynist who can't see beyond his own reflection. The chapters with him had me laughing out loud he was so obnoxious, which was good because other authors would write such a character in a way that would have me wanting to tear the pages to climb into the book and throttle him myself. Instead, Weatherley's depiction of him and the scenes he was in has me chuckling.
I love Anna-Lou Weatherley's style and this intriguing addition to the series is no different. I love how it's more than just another police procedural, that while it is an important part of the story, it goes hand in hand with the story that it is unravelling. I love how her stories are domestic thrillers enmeshed with Detective Dan Riley's investigative side. Procedurals alone can tend to be samey and a little stale, but Weatherley's style ramps it up a few notches to keep readers turning the pages as we watch everything unfold through both key players' perspectives.
I thoroughly enjoyed THE LIE IN OUR MARRIAGE as with this entire series. Having said that, I will add that despite being part of a series, each book can be read as standalones with Detective Dan Riley being the common link throughout. While some of his backstory recurs in each book, it isn't a main theme so readers won't be missing out if not every book is read. I still haven't read the first two, coming in only on the third book and I don't feel I have missed anything at all...except maybe only Weatherley's brilliant writing.
I would like to thank #AnnaLouWeatherley, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheLieInOurMarriage in exchange for an honest review.
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MEET THE AUTHOR:
Anna-Lou Weatherly is well known for her engaging and compelling mystery suspense novels. Instantly grabbing the attention of the reader, she delivers her stories in a straightforward style that really works for her material. Often writing about darker subject matter, too, she doesn’t hold back when it comes to more serious topics, really delivering gripping narratives. Her work is set in a league of its own when it comes to rich and immersive thrillers that allow the reader to escape into them.
Constantly keeping her audience guessing throughout, she’s a writer gifted in the art of compelling narratives with plenty of twists and turns. Pushing the boundaries of what the romance genre can really do, she allows her stories to speak for themselves essentially when it comes to telling them. Her books come alive off of the page, enveloping the reader and holding them there for the complete duration of the novel. Establishing her own style and tone, too, each book of hers is unmistakeably hers, as she really does have her own voice and approach.
When it comes to characters, she really embeds herself in their mindset, providing readers with a clear view of their perspective. This style gives her readers a front-row seat when it comes to the action, really making it engaging on all levels. Winning awards for her work, too, she’s written for many outlets, from Smash Hits to the NME, to Marie Claire, making her one of the most prolific writers within her area. There are plenty more titles planned for the future, too, as her writing career continues building from strength to strength.
Born in Southampton in England, Anna-Lou was raised in London with a passion for reading and writing. Nurturing this interest of her over time, she would hone and refine her skills as an author, discovering her own unique voice in the process. Studying further, she would continue to apply herself to her craft, building a profile for herself within the literary world.
Going on to work as the editor for several different publications, she would get to sharpen her writing skills for a mass audience. Drawing in inspiration from her surrounds, she would proceed to put much of it back into her writing and work. Currently still living in London to this very day, she continues to write regularly, with lots more set for release on the horizon.
Prior to writing fiction full-time, Anna-Lou Weatherly worked as an editor for prestigious publications such as Smash and J-17. Creating a big name for herself as a novelist, she would slowly come to find her own voice before writing her first complete novel. This would be titled ‘Ibiza Summer’ back in 2006, and it would give her an insight into her many writing processes and what she had to offer.
Before long, she would begin writing suspense novels and mystery thrillers, establishing a profile as a writer known for tension. Beginning her ‘Detective Dan Riley’ series with the novel ‘Black Heart’ in 2018, she would soon be on her way to being a hugely successful author. Winning awards for her work, she’s been in the industry for over ten years and counting as her career grows upwards and onwards.
When she's not writing, which isn't often, she likes to hang upside down on a pole - she's a qualified pole fitness instructor, and drink fancy wine (though not necessarily at the same time, that would be dangerous). She adores creating exciting, three dimensional, glamorous and flawed characters against a backdrop of exotic locations. Revenge, sex, sin, glamour, excess, crime and intrigue is her speciality. Her next novel, title to come, promises all the above and more!
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