
(affiliate link)
Jack Heath is an alarmingly prolific writer (he’s written over forty books!), he’s got range (he writes for both children and adults), and yet Kill Your Husbands is the first book of his I’ve read. It’s his latest novel, definitely for grown-ups, and Allen & Unwin were kind enough to send me a copy for review.
Kill Your Husbands is a locked-room mystery set over the course of a weekend getaway. Three couples rent an isolated house on a mountaintop, to spend some time reconnecting and relaxing in nature. There’s no wifi and no phone reception, but that’s alright – unplugged escapes are all the rage now, aren’t they?
Things get spicy when the idea of partner-swapping comes up. The friends concoct a convoluted scheme where, for one night only, they’ll sleep with someone who isn’t their spouse. What could go wrong?
Well, one of the husbands turning up dead, for one. And then another. And one of the wives goes missing.
Yes! We’ve got swinging! We’ve got murder! Kill Your Husbands has the kind of scandalous, ridiculous fun I love in a novel. Heath alternates the perspectives, bringing in the points of view of the detective investigating the murders and her girlfriend as well (a masterstroke that stops the reader feeling trapped in the suffocating self-involvement of the victims/culprits).
Could the three women have been working together? Maybe it’s a movement. Burn your bras. Kill your husbands.
Kill Your Husbands (Page 220)
It’s perfectly paced to keep you intrigued all the way along. Even though the red herrings might feel a little obvious at times, the pieces of the puzzle fit together nicely in the end. Kill Your Husbands was great fun to read, and I’m seriously impressed by Heath’s skilled hand in crafting a killer summer mystery.
Buy Kill Your Husbands on Booktopia here. (affiliate link)