The Housewife

By: Natalie Barelli

ISBN: 9781464247552

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Publication Date: 06/30/2026

Format: Paperback

My Rating: TBR (ARC)

JUN 2026 MUST-READ BOOKS

From bestselling indie thriller writer Natalie Barelli comes a new deliciously dark novel about a woman who married the man of her dreams, only for him to become her worst nightmare.

Jodie always dreamed of being a housewife. And after a whirlwind romance, she marries renowned psychologist Dr. Roy Davies and moves into his perfect Beverly Hills home. But the fairy tale fades fast. Roy is distant, his friends view her as a gold-digger, and the house still reveres his late wife, Deborah, whose presence still looms over everyone and everything.

When Jodie learns Deborah became a recluse before death, she begins to suspect Roy was behind it. And the deeper she digs, the darker Roy's past appears—obsessive, controlling, unfaithful. Increasingly convinced he had something to do with Deborah's death, Jodie knows she should go to the police, but that would require revealing her own secret. A secret that could destroy her.

But Jodie won't be silenced. Because the truth about Roy is worse than she imagined—and now, trapped in a house built on lies, she must find a way out before she becomes the next perfect wife to vanish.

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Praise

"Thrilling and absolutely entertaining! THIS is how you write an original main character!" ― Iliana Xander, author of Love, Mom

"A taut, twisty triumph! Natalie Barelli’s The Housewife hooked me from the very first page. Jodie’s voice is irresistible―fresh, flawed, determined―and Barelli uses it to pull you straight into a beguiling Beverly Hills fairy tale that curdles into something much darker and far more delicious.

The pacing is fantastic: every chapter tightens the tension, every reveal hits with precision. I devoured this book in a single sitting, racing through the red flags, whispered secrets, and the chilling legacy of the late wife who still haunts the halls. As Jodie digs into Roy’s polished façade, the suspense builds to a pitch-perfect fever―layered, breathless, and utterly propulsive. And just when you think you know where it’s going, the story pivots with a twist that lands beautifully.

Sharp, stylish, and utterly compulsive, The Housewife is the kind of psychological suspense I love most: a perfect cocktail of voice, velocity, and vertigo-inducing tension. An absolute must-read." ― Kaira Rouda, USA Today bestselling author of We Were Never Friends

"Barelli delivers a razor-sharp thriller that redefines the 'unreliable narrator.' You’ll be breathless as Jodie maneuvers through a world of high-society harpies and a mystery that will make you rethink every cup of tea you’re served."

― Daniel G. Miller, USA Today bestselling author of The Orphanage by the Lake and The Red Letter

About the Author

Natalie Barelli lives in Australia, where she is forever thinking up new ways of killing people and getting away with it.

Favorite pastime: reading fabulously gruesome thrillers, otherwise known as research. And when she’s not absorbed in the latest gripping page-turner, Natalie loves to cook, knits very badly, and spends far too much time at her computer. WEBSITE