It’s Always the Husband is a moody, gripping mystery set in the kind of small town where everyone knows your business—and no one forgets a scandal. Jude is a compelling lead: a newly divorced mom just trying to start over, who finds herself drawn into the dark past of her daughter's best friend's father. And Will? The perfect blend of sympathetic and suspicious. You’re never quite sure if he’s the victim or the villain—and that tension kept me turning pages late into the night.

The town of Lowbridge practically becomes a character itself, with its claustrophobic feel and long-held grudges. The layers of mystery peel back slowly, and just when you think you’ve figured it all out, the story takes another turn.

My only small gripe? Some of the twists felt just a little too neat by the end, and there were moments where I wanted more emotional depth from Jude, especially given the parallels to her own past.

Still, this is a solid, binge-worthy read for fans of domestic suspense with a dark edge and a dash of small-town paranoia. One dead wife might be tragic, but this book proves two definitely means drama.

This fast paced book explores the relationships between Jude, Sorrell and Victoria, all mums at the school gate.
Will’s wife is dead, and girlfriend is missing and he is the target of much gossip. Did he have something to do with the death of one and disappearance of the other?
Gradually the secrets and lies are revealed and I raced to the finish to find out.
Another great read from this author.

This book was amazing!!! A group of parents dropping their young children off at school each morning…and all the moms want to belong to the elite clique!  The gossip flows smoothly and they often get together for coffee at the park, a boozy dinner, or a fancy house party! Not all moms…or girlfriends are treated the same though….but they still want to be part of the clique. The only single dad, dropping off his daughter, seems to have been wrongly accused of a crime and he can’t seem to shake that image…well…the clique won’t let him forget it!  He should be off limits to the single moms…but one mom starts getting close to him and that’s when all the real gossip begins! So many secrets, and lies…an affair, missing partners, a hit and run, and murder….all involving the clique!  A book you can’t put down! And just when you think the dust has settled….that ending has you wanting for more! Phenomenal read! Thank you NetGalley  and C.L. Taylor for the opportunity to read this one! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️😍

One dead wife is tragic. Two looks like murder…

This is a very cleverly written book. I enjoyed it, though I’m not keen on books about mother’s tittle tattling at the school gate.
I wouldn’t say it’s my favourite book by this author but it is a good story with decent characters.
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Another gripping triumph from C.L. Taylor. The pacing was pitch-perfect, pulling me deeper with each chapter, and the shifting perspectives were masterfully done—each one adding fresh layers of intrigue and tightening the web of suspense. I found myself constantly second-guessing motives and alliances, which made the reveals all the more satisfying. The characters were richly drawn, flawed in the most compelling ways, and impossible to forget. It’s stories like this that remind me why Taylor remains one of my go-to authors for psychological thrillers.

Dubious goings on revolve around a group of parents at the school gate. Fans of Lesley Kara’s The Rumour – as well as real-life parents (!) – will recognise this fertile, angst-ridden territory.
The three viewpoint characters are: newcomer and single mum Jude; beleaguered and increasingly isolated wife and mother Sorrell; and recently separated queen bee Victoria. They interact with a large cast of other mums and with single dad Will, who may or may not have done away with two ex-partners.
A fluently written, swift and solid read. Another surefire hit for this bestselling author of psychological suspense.

With thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an early copy in exchange for an independent review.

On publication, I will post my review on my blog and GoodReads.

Absolutely loved this physiological thriller. It definitely had me guessing and definitely didn't expect the end. Fantastic read.

This is another brilliant book from this author. Her descriptions are amazing and you can almost believe you are in the story as a bystander. She has the ability to weave the story and characters without it becoming too complicated to follow.

All in it is a great story with a brilliant little twist at the end

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an ARC of It’s Always the Husband by C.L. Taylor in return for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this twisty, addictive read! As always, C.L. Taylor delivers a gripping plot full of secrets, lies, and expertly placed red herrings that kept me guessing until the very end. The tension builds beautifully, and just when you think you’ve figured it all out—bam! Another twist hits.

The only reason I’m giving this four instead of five stars is that there are quite a few characters to keep track of, and at times it got a little confusing, especially early on. That said, once I settled into the story, I was completely hooked.

3.5/5

I'm just gonna start off by saying I spent majority of this book picturing the mums from Motherland as the mums in this book because of the whole kids pick up thing, and because we don't see their husbands that made it funnier for me.

Anyway, this book was interesting. I didn't know where it was going to go, there were several plot twists. Personally a couple worked for me but the others didn't, purely because I didn't know the characters well enough to feel any sort of reaction. The biggest twist within the book fell flat because of this.

However, the ending (epilogue?) shook me to the core and left me wanting more, which I don't think we'll ever get, but that was crazy good.

The writing in this is good and easy to follow. I liked the multi-pov but I would've preferred them to be in first person and if we're getting two POVs in one chapter, I would've preferred them to just be split in the chapter instead to make it less confusing.

The plot was fast and intriguing, you wanna keep reading to find out what's happening, there were multiple storylines and each other as mysterious as the next which was more fun than focusing on one plot line. Definitely recommend!

It’s always the husband is the new book from C.L. Taylor. The author is one of my go to authors so I was excited to receive a copy of this.
Jude moves into a new town of Lowbridge with her daughter. She doesn’t really click wth the other mums at the school gates only single parent Will. But there a rumour about Will that he killed his wife, and his second partner has gone missing, presumed dead and if anyone else gets close to him they might end up like that too. But Jude doesn’t take no notice of that and forms a relationship and the two daughters’ bond too.
This is another gripping psychological thriller from the author, and I did enjoy most of this one. Except at time with so many characters and back stories to contend with I did still felt a bit confused of it all. 3.5 stars from me.

I have been a big fan of CL Taylor’s books so was delighted to read this arc. This story is told from the view of many different characters but despite this it is easy to follow and flows really well. I really couldn’t decide who was guilty and it kept me guessing throughout the book. A fast paced domestic thriller, I really enjoyed this one too - highly recommend!

3.75⭐️

This book was really gripping! I enjoyed the different characters and their various storylines. No dull moments. Not all of the twists landed with me, but I really liked the last chapter. It was a nice touch.

My only complaint (and perhaps this was only because I have an ARC) was that I wish there was more of a break when we would switch from talking about difference characters within the same chapter. When it kept switching it made it more challenging to follow.

Do I recommend? Yes. This was my first book from this author and I definitely want to check out more of her work in the future!

‘One dead wife is tragic. Two looks like murder…’

I’ve literally just finished this and holy moly! The beginning, the middle and the ending was just exceedingly good.

Thankful I got to read an ARC of this. I adore Cally’s work.

A must read for mystery and thriller readers.

This is told via multiple POVs but is easy to follow along despite there being a lot of characters. It will have you swinging between who is guilty throughout the whole book. Great pacing, a great domestic school run thriller, I enjoyed this, and have a read a few books by CL Taylor and haven’t been disappointed.

A group of school mum “friends” with secrets and hidden agendas.
The newest mum to the group appears to like the single dad but the rest of the group don’t trust the single dad.

There is lots going on in this book which is really fast paced. Despite the amount of characters it was really easy to follow and a great read from CL Taylor.

Thank you to the team at Avon Books UK and C.L. Taylor for allowing me to read this ARC copy of the book.

It's Always the Husband features multiple POVs from the Lowbridge community. We have Jude who is a new arrival to the neighbourhood, Sorrell – a mum who is in the group of mums but somewhat of an outcast, Victoria – the self-titled queen bee of the community and Andy who is the ex-husband of Victoria. Jude becomes friendly with Will Ledger who's wife has passed away and his girlfriend has disappeared and everyone in the community believes he was involved. Jude wants to find out the truth, rather than listen to the idle gossip from the other mothers.

The storytelling through the POVs was enjoyable, with each of the chapters nice and short which helped make it easy to follow.

As I was reading, the title of the book started to bother me as it didn't seem to be the right fit for the story. Whilst there were different story threads related to a few of the husbands, it felt as if the story was more of a focus on the cliques and mothers in the community/group and the title became a little lost on me. Coming to the end of the book I can understand to a degree on the naming choice but it didn't feel right.

Generally, it was an okay read, albeit a little underwhelming but the twists and ending were an unexpected joy for me.

Loved this book, found it fast paced as I couldn’t put it down! Loved the multiple point of views! Did not see the twist coming either I was heading in a completely different direction loved it!

Okay, it's always a treat to settle down with the latest CL Taylor novel.
And her latest novel, "It's Always The Husband" is no different.
With an intriguing, fast-paced storyline and relatable characters, this story is attention grabbing from the opening page. Now, I did say "relatable" characters. I'm not suggesting that we are all murderers or committing blackmail, with their concerns of juggling business, family and meeting the expectations of other parents at the school gates, allow readers to find themselves in a world that we can recognise and also partially understand.
We have 3 main protagonists:
Jude - a recent arrival in the town, and finding herself drawn to Will
Sorrell - a long term resident of the town, but on the fringes socially
Victoria - the Queen of the local social circle and Parents group

The three women are not friends and have very different views. With Will considered a murder suspect by most villagers, our three protoganists will find themselves struggling to find the truth before the killer strikes again.
My only issue is ... the book is being published in June and I'm writing this review in April ... how will I wait for two months to talk about it??!!

I’ve read most of the books by this author and so knew this was going to be a good read. Written from different perspectives with plenty going on I loved this thriller. Liked the last chapter too, wasn’t expecting that!