The Secret Room by Jane Casey review

About The Book

Book: The Secret Room
Author: Janey Casey
Standalone or Series: Book 12 in the Maeve Kerrigan series
Publisher: HarperFiction
Publication Date (UK): 24th April 2025

My Review

I’ve seen a couple of talks about Jane Casey’s books, and the topic of Maeve and Josh always comes up. I usually steer clear of books with a strong romance thread, so I assumed this series might not be for me.

How wrong was I? I’m now completely invested – like it’s the 2000s and the Spike and Buffy storyline has just kicked off! I totally see why, after 12 books starting back in 2010, Jane Casey’s fans are so committed.

That said, there’s still plenty here for crime fiction lovers. The murder the book opens with is genuinely grim – I was surprised by how dark it was. The mystery of who, what and why the crime occurs was super interesting too. It’s a good puzzle to try and solve.

I won’t say too much more as I don’t want to spoil anything, but the book focuses a lot more on what’s happening in Josh’s life. The blurb says: “But when shock news hits close to home, affecting her partner, DI Josh Derwent, she faces the toughest challenge of her career.”

Casey does a fantastic job of filling in both Maeve and Josh’s backstories throughout the book so you can jump in here if you wish, though I will definitely be going back to read more now!

Thank you HarperFiction for kindly sending me across a gifted proof copy of the book in order to review.