‘The latest gripping new thriller featuring DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent from the Top Ten Sunday Times bestselling author‘
– The Secret Room
[ About The Secret Room ]
A closed door. An impossible murder.
2:32 p.m. Wealthy, privileged Ilaria Cavendish checks into a luxury London hotel and orders a bottle of champagne. Within the hour, her lover discovers her submerged in a bath of scalding water, dead.
At first glance it looks like an accident. No one went in with her. No one came out. But all the signs point to murder.
For DS Maeve Kerrigan, the case is a welcome distraction. But when shock news hits close to home, affecting her partner, DI Josh Derwent, she faces the toughest challenge of her career. And if she fails her world will never be the same again…
[ My Review ]
The Secret Room by Jane Casey published April 24th with Hemlock Press/Harper Collins and is Book 12 in the multi-award winning Maeve Kerrigan series. Book 11, A Stranger in The Family, caused some controversy amongst fans with, what’s now become known as, That Ending. Readers were left anxiously waiting for Jane Casey to reveal what happened next and, with The Secret Room, she does provide some answers but she has kindly, and understandably, requested that reviewers and readers steer clear of any spoilers and, as Jane says, to ‘keep the secret of The Secret Room’ to ourselves. So, with that in mind, I will do my utmost to be vague enough to give nothing away but yet also hopefully whet your appetite for more.
The Secret Room has been described as ‘a gripping and fiendish case that will change everything’ and it certainly is all that and more, sending our hearts and minds on a spiralling and tense journey. When the body of Ilaria Cavendish is discovered in the bath of a hotel room, there are the immediate and pressing questions of what happened and how? Having only checked into the hotel room a little earlier, she had been seen on camera entering the room, but there is no clear evidence that someone else was present. An accident or was it murder?
Maeve Kerrigan is asked to assist in the investigation as it’s apparent that something brutal clearly did happen but it’s also quite evident that there are no obvious clues or reasons as to why. Anyone who is familiar with Maeve Kerrigan will already know, her tenacity and determination for justice result in her being a risk-taker, someone who likes to think outside the box. But right now Maeve is a little distracted and not quite focusing on the case in hand. DI Josh Derwent, her partner, has been caught up in something that is pulling her mind away from this London hotel room and causing her anxious moments and sleepless nights.
As Maeve attempts to navigate her way through a number of minefields her footing on the world is slightly shaken, leaving her with more questions than answers.
A classic locked room mystery with a very contemporary twist, The Secret Room features masterfully developed characters and intricately layered plots. Jane Casey just keeps on producing these clever page-turners leaving a trail of jaws-on-the-floor in her wake. As I have mentioned in other reviews, only Jane Casey knows what happens next and that is exactly how it should be. The beauty of the Maeve Kerrigan series is Jane Casey’s ability to write provocative and challenging crime fiction with such authenticity while also tormenting her fans with the ongoing relationship between Maeve and Josh.
Unpredictable elegance, twisty and taut, engaging and frustrating, The Secret Room is a fine addition to this series, one that I highly recommend to all.
[ Thank you to Harper Collins Ireland for an advance copy of The Secret Room in exchange for my, as always, honest review ]
[ Bio ]
Jane Casey has written fifteen crime novels for adults and three for teenagers. A former editor, she is married to a criminal barrister who helps to ensure her writing is realistic and as accurate as possible.
This authenticity has made her novels international bestsellers and critical successes. The Maeve Kerrigan series has been nominated for many awards: in 2015 Jane won the Mary Higgins Clark Award for The Stranger You Know and Irish Crime Novel of the Year for After the Fire. She also won Irish Crime Novel of the Year in 2019 for Cruel Acts, which was a Sunday Times bestseller, and in 2024 for A Stranger in the Family. Jane’s standalone thriller The Killing Kind has been adapted for television.
Born in Dublin, Jane now lives in southwest London with her husband and two children.
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