The Secret Room: The new latest thrilling detective crime mystery novel from the Top Ten Sunday Times bestselling author (Maeve Kerrigan, Book 12)
£11.40
The latest gripping new thriller featuring DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent from the Top Ten Sunday Times bestselling author
‘The most dangerously addictive series in crime fiction’ ERIN KELLY
‘Oh. My. God.’ RUTH WARE
‘I LOVE it – it is completely MAGNIFICENT’ MARIAN KEYES
‘Utterly brilliant’ LIZ NUGENT
‘A sumptuous golden age locked room mystery wrapped up in a will-they won’t-they love story. Sublime’ ANDREA MARA
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…
Praise for Jane Casey
‘With every breath in my body, I’m BEGGING you to read Jane Casey’s books!’ Marian Keyes
‘The ultimate just-one-more-chapter read. Come for the thrill of a historic disappearance case, and get obsessed by the sexiest will-they-won’t-they in crime fiction’ Abigail Dean
‘Jane Casey is simply one of the best writers of detective fiction today. There aren’t enough superlatives. I’m in awe. I utterly loved it’ Liz Nugent
‘A twisting, seductive, sensational thriller. Tense, heartfelt and hugely gripping, A Stranger in the Family is Jane Casey at her phenomenal best’ Chris Whitaker
‘Nobody plots better than Jane Casey…the twist in the end was as surprising as it was satisfying’ Stig Abell
‘A Stranger in the Family blew my mind. 2024 has barely started and this is already one of my books of the year’ Jo Spain
‘As tense as piano wire, intricately plotted, endlessly intriguing and all underpinned by a simmering “will they, won’t they” narrative. Just terrific’ Neil Lancaster
‘The undisputed queen of simmering tension. Explosively good’ Sarah Hilary
‘A wonderfully clever plot, surprises at every turn…one of the very best authors writing today’ Andrea Mara
‘Stellar stuff: funny, sexy, and a character and a case that will break your heart’ Jo Callaghan
‘This book hit the ground running and didn’t let up’ Sam Holland
‘Her best yet, gripping and twisty but also moving and with a slow-burn sizzle that would put romance writers to shame’ Claire McGowan
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Additional information
| Publisher | Hemlock Press (24 April 2025) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 1.6 MB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Not Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Print length | 400 pages |
| Page numbers source ISBN | 000870225X |
by SarahB
Another wonderful book from Jane couldn’t put it down! Would recommend all of her books they are the best. Wonderful
by SarahB
The best one yet. Thank you Jane. Buy it and clear some time to read it because you won’t want to do anything until you have finished.
by Dorinda M. Mittiga
Wonderful edition to this long running procedural series. The stories keep getting better. Jane Casey is a master at balancing the professional and personal lives of the detectives. Please do yourself a favor and read this series- but start at number 1.
by Kindle Customer
Good story but please don’t go down messy romantic road. I’m v disappointed as Josh and mauve perfect sparring partners not cooin turtle doves
by K. Collins
Jane Casey is one of those authors that you see highly recommended on social media all the time… so much so that I was positive I had read some of her DS Maeve Kerrigan series and was delighted to be approved for an advanced copy of The Secret Room, Book 12 in the series. Rather belatedly at that point I investigated further only to discover that I had actually never read a book by this author before!! Having read the blurb and some earlier reviews, I thought I should read A Stranger In The Family first and downloaded the audiobook from my fabulous local library service. Thoroughly enjoying that and being left on such a cliffhanger, I was delighted to be able to go straight into The Secret Room.
Although The Secret Room can be read as a standalone, I truly feel it is best read having a few earlier books in the series under your belt. Although there is a solid case to solve with the death of Ilaria Cavendish in a luxury hotel room, let’s be honest the real story is the story within the police team investigating. Coming straight from A Stranger in the Family, I will admit I was invested in this storyline but not half as much as I imagine those readers who have been involved with this series from the start will be.
I’m not a good enough reviewer to say too much without giving away spoilers so I will simply say to long term followers of this series, buy this book and read immediately; and to those coming to it like me, read Book 11 and then buy this book and read immediately!
I enjoyed Jane Casey’s writing very much and will definitely read future books in this series.
Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins UK and HarperFiction for an eARC of this book.
by Agnes
Waited what seemed like forever for this book to be published and have devoured it over the last 48hrs and am now bereft🥲. Well worth the wait, as good as the previous books which depict the tricky relationship between these two detectives and takes us a step further into the complications they encounter along the road. Absolutely love Maeve Kerrigans books and will now wait with bated breath for the next instalment.
by Kindle Customer
An absolutely smashing read. The intensity of the crimes and the sheer determination of the author to keep us readers on the edge of our seats is awesome. I’m delighted I started reading the first book in this series and am left in no doubt that anyone who likes this genre will be equally enthralled. Well done Jane Casey, you have a brilliant talent with the written word. Thank you for the journey
by Pammy George
I have been eagerly awaiting this book for over a year and I have to say it is well worth the wait. The mystery in this murder at a swanky hotel is particularly interesting and head scratching. As usual the romantic and professional sides of Maeve’s life suck you in on an emotional Rollercoaster. Many things come to fruition in this book that Casey planted seeds for years ago, and while the anticipation has been both frustrating and delicious at the same time, it was well worth the wait. If I could give this book 100 stars I would!
by Kindle Customer
Loved this book. Jane Casey has managed through all 12 of this book series to keep the quality of the mysteries compelling while simultaneously entertaining with the relationship between Maeve and Josh Derwent. Both are equally enjoyable. This latest didn’t disappoint. Especially the ending. It’s about time!
by PAULINE B.
What a book. Seemed to go on and on but in a good way. Didn’t want it to end. Love Maeve -inspirational. Josh ain’t bad either 😉
AMAZING!!!!
by A
i absolutely adored this book. Read it in 3 nights, so 3 sleep deprived nights. I think my favourite of the author’s books in a while. Hard to say much more without giving anything away, apart from, well worth the wait. The only down side is having to wait until the next book in the Kerrigan series. LOVED LOVED LOVED it!
by Lynsay
I was lucky enough to get an advance review copy of The Secret Room by Janet Casey, having just completed the series so far last week, in preparation for this book – the 12th in the Maeve Kerrigan series.
It is a rare thing for a series to reach its twelfth instalment. It must be rarer still for it to do so while still maintaining a very high level of quality and consistency. The series was recommended to me online and I started it in April 2024. I started working through the books and have picked up the pace as I went – more and more engaged by the characters and how their personalities developed as I moved through the books. I’m so pleased that I picked these up – I read a lot of mysteries and these are written to a very high standard, the mysteries are always absorbing and interesting, and the solution often isn’t obvious but the clues are there! The characters are interesting and absorbing, with many shades of grey – the vast majority of characters feel very realistic and the development over the series is great, with a number of story arcs threading through multiple books. Jane Casey is obviously a talented, skilful writer and I really enjoy her writing.
Ilaria Cavendish is the victim of The Secret Room, which kicks off in a modern version of a classic trope – the locked room murder. Found dead in a hotel room where she had a standing assignation with her lover, there is plenty of CCTV evidence to detail how she got there, but the issue is that there is no time for her to have been killed. And so the curtain lifts on another tricky puzzle for the team to solve. However, as always they have personal lives that bleed into work and distract them from the task at hand.
I was totally drawn in by this mystery – I found it really engaging and I honestly couldn’t wait to see what happened next. There were plenty of twists and turns throughout the story and it was more than enough to keep me on my toes!
I have seen a lot of discussion online about the balance in these books between work / personal lives of Maeve and Josh, but in all honesty, I think that a really good balance is struck between moving along the story in their personal lives as well as managed to progress their current case. I really enjoyed this book and couldn’t wait to get back to it to se what happened next and I already can’t wait for the next one!
If you haven’t already read this series – what a gift you have in store! Technically, each book probably could be read as a standalone, but you would really be missing out on the valuable character development and the backstory to the characters – I feel like I’ve known them from afar for years!
I really enjoyed this book, in all aspects and would heartily recommend it, but if you haven’t already, read the series – it will be worth it!