What is the title of your latest release?
THE SECRET LIVES OF MURDERERS’ WIVES
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Beverley, Elsie and Margot are three friends with a shared secret – they are all ex-wives of serial killers. When a string of murders hits their pretty, white-picket-fence neighborhood, the three get to work, because who better to catch a murderer than those who have shared a bed, and a life, with one?
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I’m a Brit but I knew this story wasn’t going to take place in the grey, rainy UK. I wanted a murder story you could read by the pool – so sun-smattered LA was the perfect setting. California is a very large state, obviously, so there’s the geographical plausibility of multiple serial killers operating at any particular time. Oh, and the Hollywood connections were irresistible. I wouldn’t have wanted to set it anywhere else!
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
I think anyone who’s been through what these women have been through is incredible. I would be proud to sip on a margarita by the pool with them.
What are three words that describe your hero?
Beverley – Sensitive, nurturing, compulsive
Elsie – Determined, clever, proud
Margot – Funny, dazzling, damaged
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned that many English turns of phrase do not cross the pond. I had my editor stumped a few times!
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I plan extensively – I need to know exactly where I’m going, so I put together a detailed chapter plan before I write a single word. But once I’ve started a first draft, I cannot let myself stop to edit. I need the forward momentum to be able to finish the book. If I stopped to edit, I’d agonize over every sentence and it would take me years!
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I’m an emotional eater. I eat when I’m bored, happy, stressed, whatever. I snack constantly while I’m writing – fruit, chocolate, crisps, cheese, cereal. But pizza’s my real indulgence.
Describe your writing space/office!
I have a garden office where I keep everything that my husband won’t allow in the house – it’s painted dusky pink and there are pictures of all sorts on the walls, snakes, birds, beautiful landscapes, Renaissance women with daggers.
Who is an author you admire?
I’m in awe of all authors. Putting your work out there to be devoured and critiqued is a brave thing. I have huge admiration for anyone who puts their bum in the chair to write, full-stop. Especially those who have battled for a long while to get published and still – in the face of all that rejection – continue to put their hearts and souls into telling stories. Writing can be lonely and grueling, and to keep going when there’s no guarantee that your work will be read by other takes guts. I respect that.
Is there a book that changed your life?
DO NO HARM, a memoir by brain surgeon Henry Marsh reminds me that writing books is a privilege, not a life-or-death situation. That helps alleviate the pressure when stress threatens to get on top of me or if I’m banging my head against the desk trying to work out a knotty plot point!
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published). Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I was nine months pregnant and my wonderful agent had taken the manuscript to London Book Fair. She called me to say that multiple publishers were interested and that we were entering an auction situation. I ended up in hospital with high blood pressure! Thankfully the baby and I were just fine.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
I love crime novels with a twist – something in an exotic setting or a clever spin on a well-trodden issue.
What’s your favorite movie?
Impossible to say (I love so many!), but I think Zodiac is a near-perfect serial killer movie.
What is your favorite season?
Spring. Surely everyone says Spring!
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Good food, good company, a nice long walk and a pint at the pub to recuperate.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I’ve just finished Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy. It’s compelling, atmospheric and beautifully-crafted. Highly recommend.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Italian or Thai.
What do you do when you have free time?
I have a high-energy toddler, so I like to slow things down if I ever have any free time. I love seeing friends and going for dinner or to the theatre with my husband, but I’m just as happy on my own, walking in nature, listening to podcasts or watching true crime shows.
What can readers expect from you next?
More empowering stories about women with a crime twist.
THE SECRET LIVES OF MURDERERS’ WIVES by Elizabeth Arnott
A remarkable trio whose lives have been cracked wide open by their husbands’ crimes unite to catch a serial killer in this dazzlingly captivating novel.
Beverley, Elsie, and Margot are not your average housewives. They are all wives of convicted killers. During the sun-drenched summer of 1966, the three women form an unlikely friendship after the discoveries of their husbands’ brutal crimes. With their exes—some of California’s most infamous murderers—dead or behind bars, they are attempting to forge a new future for themselves.
Headstrong Beverley tries compulsively to maintain control of everything around her, all while raising two children. Bookish Elsie fights to make a name for herself in the newsroom, working among men who sneer at her career goals. Glamorous Margot prefers partying to homemaking and devotes all her energy to upholding the appearance that everything is fine—anything to quell the shame from her husband’s deceit.
They know people look at them and think only one thing: How could they not have known what their husbands were doing? How much are they to blame? And yet when a string of local killings hits the news, the three women—underestimated, overlooked, shrewd—decide to get to work. After all, who better to catch a killer than those who have shared their lives and homes with one?
At once a riveting portrayal of shattered trust and a story of gripping suspense, The Secret Lives of Murderers’ Wives is a testament to the intricacies of women’s lives and how the deep bonds of female friendship can empower, uplift, and lead us to endure.
Women’s Fiction | Thriller Serial Killer | Thriller Crime [ Berkley, On Sale: March 3, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780593952993 / eISBN: 9780593953006 ]
Buy THE SECRET LIVES OF MURDERERS’ WIVES: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com | Apple Books | Kobo | Google Play | Books-A-Million | Indie BookShops | Ripped Bodice | Walmart.com | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR
About Elizabeth Arnott
ELIZABETH ARNOTT has written historical fiction under Lizzie Pook, published to critical acclaim by Pan Macmillan / Picador. Her work has featured in publications including The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph and Stylist.
Elizabeth began her career in women’s magazines, covering everything from feminist motorcycle gangs to conspiracy theorists, before moving into travel writing, contributing to publications including Condé Nast Traveller, Lonely Planet and the Sunday Times. Her assignments have taken her to some of the most remote parts of the world, from the uninhabited east coast of Greenland in search of polar bears, to the trans-Himalayas to track snow leopards.
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