I tried to talk to you today but you snubbed me and walked away. It wasn’t wise to give me the brush-off, Gemma. I can be a truly good friend but I also make the perfect enemy.’

Sasha’s eighteen-year-old daughter Gemma was all she had in the world. Sasha fell pregnant with Gemma when she was still at school, and the two are as close as sisters. So when Gemma’s burned and broken body is found, Sasha’s world ends. What kind of person would want her beautiful daughter dead?

Leading the case is Detective Natalie Ward, scarred by her own recent tragedy. When she finds a note in Gemma’s diary from ‘a secret admirer’, she moves quickly, determined to un-mask them. But interviews with Gemma’s devastated ex-boyfriend, and her charismatic teacher, who has been seen embracing his student far away from the classroom, don’t give Natalie the answers she’d hoped for…

And then the case takes a devastating, personal twist. CCTV footage reveals Natalie’s estranged husband David followed Gemma home every evening the week before she died.

Natalie is forced to put personal feelings aside and follow procedure, even though she can’t believe David could be guilty. But when Gemma’s housemate is found murdered, Natalie thinks the killer could still be at large. Is she right to trust her instincts about David and can she discover the truth before another precious life is taken?

Grippingly fast and nail-bitingly tense, The Secret Admirer will have you flying through the pages long into the night. Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Rachel Abbott and Karin Slaughter.

I’ve made no secret of how much I love the DI Natalie Ward series and The Secret Admirer does not disappoint! After the events of The Blossom Twins I was interested to see how Natalie would cope, but she’s still the feisty detective I’ve come to love. She obviously has a great deal of empathy for Gemma’s mother who has lost her young daughter, and I loved the relationship between them. It was good to see a different side to Natalie throughout this novel. 

I also loved being back with Natalie’s team and finally being able to meet Lucy and Bethany’s baby, Aurora. I love the team dynamics and the way they work with each other to solve their cases. 

In each book in the Natalie Ward series, Wyer takes the reader to a different setting with a new group of characters. The Secret Admirer is centred around the University and the student lifestyle and I felt that Wyer transported the reader to this environment brilliantly and I quickly became immersed in the lives of the victims and their friends and family. The characters are well drawn and easy to relate to and I loved how Wyer gives the reader the opportunity to get to know them all, even the minor ones. 

The investigation that forms the plot of The Secret Admirer is complex. There are several different strands to the plot but this does not distract from it. It’s still fast paced and there are plenty of surprises. 

The ending of The Secret Admirer sets Natalie’s situation up perfectly for the next book and I can’t wait to see what happens! 

The Secret Admirer is available from Amazon.

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