What the Wife Knew by Darby Kane @hkdimon @hlaserwolf @andreweiden @harperaudio #WhatTheWifeKnew

the setup…
Meet the Doughertys. Richmond is a wealthy, well respected pediatric surgeon with a thriving practice. He’s recently divorced wife Kathryn, mother of his two children Wyatt and Portia, to marry a much younger woman, Addison who is now the town pariah. As a teen, Richmond became a national hero arising from a tragedy that’s defined his life. But now he’s dead after having fallen down the stairs at home. All fingers are pointing at Addison…well, they’d only been married 97 days and now she’s a very rich widow. What they don’t know is Richmond dying was not part of Addison’s plan, one that she’d hatched many years ago. Yes, she despised him but she wanted to publicly ruin him. So, who really killed Richmond?

the heart of the story…
No spoilers here because we begin at Richmond’s funeral and everything is told from primarily from Addison’s point of view. She makes her feelings about Richmond clear from the start but what we don’t know is the why and what exactly she had on this man. It’s a really slow burn as we’re introduced to the important characters in his life, most I didn’t trust or like very much. It also created a wealth of suspects, especially when it looks like someone is coming after Addison. I started to get really antsy and then…I couldn’t put the book down.

the narration…
I’m a recent fan of Helen Laser and she soared in this one, firmly establishing her now as one of my most favorite. She shines as Addison but nails every other single character. Andrew Eiden has a limited role as Richmond but he was brilliant from start to end.

the bottom line…
Addison is a snarky character and that helped to make this crazy sauce story even more interesting. Admittedly, I grew weary waiting for stuff to be revealed but when it finally started leaking out, my mind started racing to assemble the clues. It shifts to warp speed, twisty surprises and a confounding ending. This was a sometimes bumpy ride but one I ended up enjoying, especially because of the audio experience.

Book Info

• Release Date: December 10, 2024
• Narrators: Helen Laser & Andrew Eiden
• Audio Length: 9 hours, 15 minutes
• Publisher: HarperAudio

Listen to a Sample!

Goodreads | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Libro.fm