Tropes covered:

- Wife is the killer/murderer
- Dark humour
- Revenge

Trigger Warnings:

- Infertility
- Murder
- Domestic gaslighting
- Harassment

This book was a great thriller to pick up, and for once I actually liked the main protagonist for this kind of trope. Fran was unhinged and in the light of more books showcasing female rage in all its power I am all here for it! Not only was she feminine rage in all its glory, she was witty, hilarious and stood out massively. I definitely had a good laugh with her. Gareth on the other hand, was really hard to like, he whinged, he whined and just too unlikable unfortunately. It was hard to warm up to him, as he was incessantly annoying…until his personality changes up pretty quickly near the end (which didn't flow as it should have sadly)..

The Dual point of view was really significant for the plot, however 2/3 of the way through, I felt that the pacing really went downhill and character personality changes, made it difficult to keep the enthusiasm I had for the book when I first initially started. Nevertheless, definitely a great debut!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an Arc in exchange for an honest review!

3.5⭐️ An interesting, enjoyable read. It seems to be quite common at the moment for writers to try and write a female serial killer book. With the success of Sweetpea and the Katy Brent books I can understand why. I enjoyed this story and the take on a female serial killer and I’m glad it ended in the way that it did. Presented as a comedy I can’t say I found a lot of humour in this book but I can see where the writer tried. I think it’s hard for a man to write from a woman’s perspective and sadly didn’t feel like the writer quite hit the mark here. There were a couple of things about this book that I didn’t enjoy - the way the couple spoke to each other sometimes seemed a little unnatural (“my love” being a commonly used pet name) some of their “lovey” chat seemed a little grating! And the serial killer’s motive wasn’t the huge shock I’d been waiting for sadly. I would recommend this one and I’m very grateful for the opportunity to be an ARC reader!

Loved this unhinged woman!
I know we're probably supposed to hate Fran but I absolutely loved her- she was fabulous. The dark humor was great, and Mep was main character energy 👌🏼
It was a fun read- thank you netgalley for the arc!

This book is a fabulous and thoughtful dark comedy full of murder, revenge, and romance! Fran and Gareth are happily married but there's just one problem: Fran can't stop killing people.

I loved this book. Fran is such an intriguing character, and found myself rooting for her to get her happily ever after.

Thank you so much to Storm Publishing for the ARC! I can't wait to read more from H.J. Garbett.

The title of this book piqued my interest and I started reading it with high expectations. It is written from the alternating perspectives of Fran and Gareth; Fran commits her second murder which Gareth, her policeman husband, diligently starts to investigate. This is a well written thriller told with plenty of dark humour. The use of alternating storytellers provides good momentum. Expectations met!

ARC read.Thank you too Netgalley and Storm publishing for the earc.

I loved the idea of this book. The book started out great. I was seriously questioning what was going to happen with Gareth and Fran since he was a police officer investigating the crime. When Gareth helped the police, I was like how could he do that to his wife but I still wanted to see how these characters developed/communicated.

But then things started to decline with the second half. Unfortunately it felt like some things were kind of just thrown into the story and didn't help with the plot in any true way (i.e fertility stuff). I was also hoping the reasoning for the murders would hit the heart stings a little more but it didn't engagee as much as I would like. The epilogue felt a like it was also just thrown in there after a rushed ending.

one thing that got me was this couple who was apparently really good at communicating (despite the secrets from the past) only for them to just complete not talk for months. it didn't feel like it matched who the author was trying to portray them as.

Overall, I did enjoy the dark humor and how the main characters developed up until the 2nd half. I'm not sure I would recommend this to many people though.

This is such a darkly humorous thriller with a secret serial killer wife and a detective for a husband. If you've enjoyed Bad Men by Julie Mae Cohen or How to Kill men and get away with it by Katy Brent or How to Kill your family by Bella Mackie and find yourself in need of a murderous fun fix, this one is just the ticket.

Thank you J. Garbett and Netgalley for this ALC în exchange for my honest opinion.

I loved this so much I binge read it and stayed up late to read it, even though it meant loosing precious sleep. Which is saying a lot as I have two littles with Autism and a small baby. Being born in England but moving to Canada at a young age, I loved the English banter/colloquialisms. Fran & Gareth’s story was fantastic. Fran is sort of a British female Dexter. Whilst I don’t condone murder, I do agree that sometimes the justice system can fail, and that there are some people the world would be far better off without. A great reminder of what trauma and revenge can drive us to, and unconditionally loving a person throughout that all. LOVED IT. 👌🏻🥰🙌🏻

I think this book would be good for people who like cozy mysteries with some dark humor. Also people who can read it for fun and not take it too seriously.

That being said, this book wasn't for me. I thought the synopsis sounded interesting...a detective who's wife is a serial killer. I didn't realize that this would be more of a funny, fluffy mystery that you have to suspend some disbelief for. The mystery wasn't a who-dun-it, but a why-dun-it. The "why" wasn't compelling enough to keep me interested and it took a while to get through the book. I was just bored. I didn't care for any of the characters except for Mep, the cat. Then ending seemed implausible.

The writing was good, so I can see people enjoying this book. If you like cozy mysteries, give it a try.

I think I'm over the "unexpected serial killer" construct. I went into this one expecting a darkly humorous, quick and easy read. I found it to be much slower-going than I anticipated, and the characters and relationships didn't have enough of the quirks or foibles that would have made them resonate. I liked the opening monologue and had high hopes, but they never quite came to fruition. The snarky dark inner monologues started feeling repetitive and the clueless cop/husband is not a trope I've ever been a big fan of... This wasn't a good fit for me.

This was a very interesting read. The beginning was a little slow which made me a little nervous because it can be hard for me to get into slower books. However, I am glad I stuck with it because it ends up making up for it about halfway through. I love a book about an unhinged woman, so I did enjoy this book. I just wish the pacing was a little quicker.

Enjoyed this book and its mix of morally grey characters and warped humour. I found the first 40% or so a little slow, but it definitely picked up as it went on. Fran is crazy and dangerous and I loved it. This was definitely a good debut novel

This book is insane, but in the best possible way.

So from the very beginning, the very title, we know that Fran is the murderer…. she isn’t technically a serial killer though, she gives us a description at one point of what classes a serial killer, and she doesn’t really fit that ‘profile’ But I loved how we knew it was Fran, we know how she done it, and even though the ‘why’ eluded us for a bit…. we still sympathised with her? Ahh, I love a genre where you root for the actual murderer. Isn’t it such a fun twist? It takes a good writer to make us actually empathise with this sort of character. One thing that did annoy me though was the pacing throughout the book – it was very slow and it took me while to become fully immersed in it. Plus the ending was very anti-climactic and has no real answers. Which was disappointing. If you loved the Mindf**k series, then you will be a fan of this.

Characters Fran LIKE. Gareth HATE. Mep ICONIC. Gareth was too much of a wimp and a push over etc, I didn’t like him. Secretly wanted her to murder him. Mep was a vibe.

Thank you to NetGalley giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A very cute read! The main characters in the book were so loveable you couldn’t help but root for them the whole time! I thought the pacing of the murder motivation was nice and the arc of the relationship was very satisfying. I think there was some overcrowding in this book with the fertility plot line but overall well balanced. This book was a comforting little read that had me a bit more emotional and choked up than I anticipated I would be!

Just finished reading an advanced copy of a book that was just released on June 17th called, My Wife, The Serial Killer. When Fran becomes a suspect in the murder of their neighbor, her husband Gareth is one of the detectives on the case. But when he starts to think his wife is guilty, he has to decide what comes first; his duty as a husband or his duty as a cop. This was such an enjoyable read, I was hooked right from the beginning and it kept my attention until the very end! The suspense/thrill, the dark humor, the banter between the characters, and the unhinged chaos throughout this book was so well done. I love stories like this! I also loved that this was dual POV with chapters from both the wife and the husband throughout this story. I can't believe this was the author's debut novel! I will definitely be keeping an eye out for future work by this author! 🩷📚

Thank you to the author and to the publisher for this ARC of My Wife, The Serial Killer, in exchange for an honest review.

Garett et Fran sont heureux, mariés, ils veulent un enfant, oui ils sont heureux . Cependant voilà leur voisin est lié au passé de Fran, un passé qu'elle ne peut pas oublier, et dont elle n'a pas parlé à son mari.

Un voisin qui ne mérite pas de vivre, et Fran passa à l'acte. Or son mari est policier, il travaille sur l'enquête. Bien sur pour lui sa femme ne peut pas être la coupable. Et pourtant ....

Malgré l'enquête, malgré son témoignage, Fran aura du souci à se faire. Oui elle peut compter sur le soutien de son faux frère, Angus, qui fut élevé aussi en maison. MAis sur son mari?
C'est plus compliqué, car elle ne peut rien lui dire, et malheureusement ils ne communiquent pas sur grand chose en ce moment, même sur les problèmes de fertilité dont souffrent sa femme. Et la collègue de Garett n'aide pas. ah elle je ne peux pas la voir, comme si elle voulait le mari, et comme si l'enquête était pliée.

Oui en un sens on peut voir que l'enquête est baclée, que des éléments circonstancielles, Fran est là, elle aide le voisin... Pourtant même avec tout ça on se dit ça y est Garett va se réveiller, va être là pour sa femme... Alors ok c'est un policier, mais tout de même il doit soutenir sa femme, il doit connaitre la vérité et après il verra.

Bien sur lorsqu'on connaitra le pourquoi du comment on se demandera alors, est-ce que c'est mérité? Peut-on tu€r pour ce qu'il s'est passé, pour ce que les personnes ont faites?

Dans tous les cas j'ai beaucoup aimé ce polar, oui dans la même lignée que j'ai tu€ tous les membres de ma famille, et Fran est très attachante, malgré tout ce qu'elle a vécu.

This was such a fun read! I loved to dual POV from both the killer and the detective, who just happens to be her husband. Woven throughout the story is the mystery of what happened in Fran's childhood that caused her to begin killing. And beneath it all is a bit of romance as well. Like a rom-com Dexter! Overall this was a fun and quick summer read.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the book!

this one didn't really do it for me. one thing i really liked about it though were fran's chapters. the author did a great job of differentiating the two voices of fran and gareth and fran's perspective was really interesting and fascinating to read about. however, i really did not enjoy gareth's chapters; he is just really not engaging or interesting as a character and i think the book suffered because of him.

i also just wish this book was more fun. with a title and premise and especially a cover like this, i expected this nook to be a fun, campy ride sort of in the same vein as the movie "serial mom" but it takes itself way too seriously and i wish it went a bit further and was more over-the-top. i can see why someone would really like this but it was just not for me unfortunately.

This novel starts off with a bang and a great premise, but falters in the second half. It’s still an enjoyable and original read, but it doesn’t have the impact it could have had.

Fran and Gareth Donoghue have just moved into a suburban house and have barely had time to get to know the neighbours. Yet, one day, Fran comes home and stabs their elderly neighbour in the eye, then conceals the body and the crime.

Which is enough for any one woman to deal with, you’d think, but Gareth is a police detective and he’s assigned to investigate the report of a missing man. Gareth doesn’t want to worry Fran, so he avoids telling her about it.

The secrets they’re keeping from each other begin to take a toll on each individual and their marriage, especially as the investigation leads Gareth closer to Fran.

I found the portrait of two people who loved each other but were keeping secrets from each other well done and believable, as was the gradual breakdown in trust. Fran’s motivation for the murder is a little out there, but no more so than in many other novels. Garbett presents it in a way you can believe and follow.

The setting was also quite believable, including the nosy neighbours and the challenges Fran has in concealing the body without being seen.
However, in the second half of the novel the writing starts to fall apart. There are plot holes; for example, the police start talking about the murdered man having been stabbed in the eye. But there is no way for them to know this; the body still hasn’t been found, let alone autopsied for a cause of death.

The way everyone behaves gets less and less credible. I didn’t believe the way the police were behaving, the “evidence” they took to court, or indeed the court scenes. Interestingly, however, the relationship between Fran and Gareth still rang true.

This was a fairly enjoyable read, but I don’t think it lived up to the potential of the idea.

A fun British dark-comedy about a female serial killer and her husband, the detective working her case.

The first 2/3rds of the story were so much fun and well-plotted, but I think the third act definitely fell apart at the seams. I didn’t like some of the narrative choices made, and the characterisation seemed to fly out the window. However, the first 70% was so much fun that I can’t lower my rating too much.

Fran was a great POV to read from, even if I find her motive lacking. She’s witty, dark and definitely fucked up, but so interesting! Her constant assurances that she ISN’T a psychopath (okay maybe she is) were great and I loved the love she has for her husband. Gareth is the ultimate people-pleaser but also a great detective, unfortunately for Fran. His POV wasn’t as fun as Fran’s, but watching his obsession with the case evolve as the story goes was really interesting. Their marriage is absolute goals, which I can’t believe I’m saying about a thriller following a literal murderer.

Overall a fun read with THE BEST fictional cat in the world (Mep has my heart) but I do wish the last 30% had been edited or altered or just … different. :/