Book review: The Secret Room by Jane Casey

The Secret Room by Jane Casey is the latest in the Maeve Kerrigan series and though I’m an intermittent reader of the series I loved the previous book (A Stranger in the Family) which left us hanging. Here, we have one case involving the locked-room death of the young attractive wife of a wealthy man, murdered while at her weekly tryst with her lover; and another featuring Josh Derwent (Maeve’s boss and erstwhile will-they / won’t-they love interest) coming under suspicion after his girlfriend is beaten.

Wealthy, privileged Ilaria Cavendish checks into a luxury hotel in central London. Within the hour, her lover finds her submerged in a bath full of scalding water, dead. It looks like an accident, because no one went into the room with her and no one came out, but someone killed her all the same…

For DS Maeve Kerrigan the case is a welcome distraction from her worries about DI Josh Derwent, who is struggling with a difficult situation – but then disaster strikes. The only person who can help Josh now is Maeve. It's no longer will-they-won’t-they – this is a matter of life and death.

I’d not remembered where the previous book in this series had finished, but my review indicates it was a cliff-hanger. This opens six months or so after that and Maeve’s trying to move on from her not-entirely unrequited love for Derwent while he’s still with his partner and her young (unwell) son. I must confess I guessed where this was going (in terms of Melissa and her son) very early on in the book, but maybe that’s because—like the doctor who ultimately diagnoses him—I’m a terrible cynic, but although it could be predictable Casey introduces evidence that Derwent isn’t the good guy Maeve’s believes him to be. And then there’s the cop hellbent on proving his guilt, and thinking she’s saving Maeve from herself and career suicide at the same time.

The murder investigation is (mostly) front and centre here, but we dip in and out of Derwent’s unfolding circumstances. And of course although he forbids Maeve from getting involved, she can’t help herself. The murder on the other hand becomes quite complex as we learn the husband of the victim was indeed aware of her trysts and had a habit of ditching ageing wives and moving onto a younger version. The murder is puzzling as there are security cameras outside of the victims room and the only visitor before she was found was a staff member delivering her usual bottle of champagne. Room / card access details also indicate no one else entered. So, the quintessential 21st century version of the locked-room mystery.

I must confess intriguing as [that case] was I didn’t particularly connect with the victim or suspects… many of whom were quite unlikeable. I was however more interested in the case involving Derwent and continue to delight in the tortured relationship he has with Maeve. I was also however, happy to see some changes on that front.

I very much enjoyed this and was again reminded early of Casey’s eloquent prose…

Death had arrived just ahead of me, and greeted my like an old friend, which was fortunate because the staff downstairs had been distinctly chilly. Here was the familiar nightmarish sense of everything normal having shuddered to a stop, the ordinary and everyday turned strange. 2% through ebook #perfection

The Secret Room by Jane Casey was published by Harper Collins and now available.

I received an electronic copy of this book from the publisher for review purposes.