Danielle Valentine’s 2023 release, DELICATE CONDITION, introduced readers to a writer who seamlessly blended horror with real life. The book revolved around contemporary issues of motherhood, patriarchal control, and the gaslighting of women that occurs in marriages, doctors’ offices and beyond. With THE DEAD HUSBAND COOKBOOK, Valentine once again delights readers with her delicious fusion of fact and horror, relatable women and devious men. But this time, the women know far more than they’re letting on.

If you took Martha Stewart, Ina Garten and Joanna Gaines and mashed up their perfectly crafted but accessible recipes, their homey kitchens boasting collections of their grandmothers’ cookware, and their cuddly, affirming personas, you’d be almost close to recognizing the level of fame that celebrity chef Maria Capello has achieved. If you don’t have a copy of one of Maria’s cookbooks in your kitchen, it’s probably because you prefer tuning in to her weekly television show or shopping for one of her bestselling jarred sauces.

"Savvy readers may figure out a few of the twists, but nothing will prepare you for the final one. THE DEAD HUSBAND COOKBOOK is the perfect recipe for fun, fury and, of course, murder. Just don’t read it too close to dinnertime."

And if the recipes (Maria claims they are all passed down to her by generations of good, home-style Italian cooking) aren’t enough to woo you, there’s her ripped-from-the-headlines history. Twenty years ago, Maria’s beloved husband, Damien --- a renowned celebrity chef in his own right --- disappeared, leaving her and their children to pick up the pieces of not just his probable death, but also the struggling family restaurant he left behind, which is famous for its rendition of his nonna’s meatballs. For years, Maria has bravely dodged rumors that she either 1) killed her husband to launch her own career; 2) killed her husband and used his body in her now even more famous meatballs; or 3) some combination of the above, with whatever murder weapon you find most scintillating.

But superfan Thea Woods has never believed the rumors. After all, Maria was more influential in Thea’s life than her own mother, and certainly more than her deadbeat father. A popular book editor, Thea has seen her career go from exclusive pitches and lunches with her director to closed-door meetings and cold shoulders after she made an explosive, terrible error in judgment and confessed her misgivings about a popular author to a stranger at a party. Thea’s cutting words were recorded and publicized, blacklisting her in the industry as someone not to be trusted and costing her employer thousands of dollars in lost sales. The scandal has put an enormous strain on Thea’s marriage and finances, and she knows her firing is imminent.

So when Thea’s boss, Cassandra, calls her into an early-morning meeting, she is shocked when she is told: “I want to talk to you about The Dead Husband Cookbook.” For weeks, Thea has been hearing whispers about the top-secret project, whose author and actual title are on a need-to-know basis.

Cassandra tells Thea that Maria Capello has approached them about a memoir, not just of her life of celebrity stardom and culinary genius, but also --- they hope --- about what really happened on the night Damien disappeared. There’s just one catch: Maria will work only with Thea, and she is so fearful of potential leaks that she demands Thea come to her family farm to edit the book one-on-one, by hand, completely in secret. Oh, and she also has not delivered a single page of the book or even a promise that it will be the tell-all that the publisher needs in order to recoup their losses after Thea’s mistake.

Still, this is the opportunity of a lifetime for Thea, not just to regain her career and save her family, but to get close to the icon whose recipes saved her when she needed them most. On top of her NDA, she will have to relinquish her cell phone --- a difficult task when you have a toddler at home and a husband who has perfected the art of weaponized incompetence --- and is forbidden from speaking about the book to anyone, including her own production and art teams. 

When Thea arrives at the Capello farm, she is immediately surprised by Maria’s home. It’s not the cozy Italian villa she broadcasts from, but a cold, sterile behemoth made up of sharp angles and floor-to-ceiling glass windows. Thea is on a tight deadline and expects to sit down with Maria to begin editing, but Maria has other plans. She delivers her memoir to Thea chapter by chapter, one at a time, each no more than a few pages. Together, Thea holds less than a novella in her hands, but she cannot deny one thing: the writing is good --- no, stellar --- and it opens up a world of love and betrayal that even the gossip columnists have never hinted at.

It seems that Maria has been covering for Damien --- an uninspired chef who took credit for her own recipes more often than not --- and his ties to the mafia, penchant for gambling, and more than a few adulterous trysts. This book, which is actually called The Secret Ingredient, is excellent, but it still doesn’t answer the most famous, pressing question of all: Did Maria kill her husband?

In chapters that alternate between Thea’s heady, dizzying stay at the Capello farm, passages from The Secret Ingredient, and even some of Maria’s recipes, Danielle Valentine pens a bone-chilling thriller that asks why it is always women who take the fall for men, why men always take the credit, and just how far a woman can be pushed until she decides to take matters into her own hands. Just as she did in DELICATE CONDITION, Valentine preys upon her readers’ own fears and insecurities --- of being the perfect mother, the perfect wife, the perfect employee --- and then completely upends them, asking, What if you fought back? What if you said no? The resulting blend of thriller and horror is not just heart-stopping, but surprisingly galvanizing and oh-so devourable.

Savvy readers may figure out a few of the twists, but nothing will prepare you for the final one. THE DEAD HUSBAND COOKBOOK is the perfect recipe for fun, fury and, of course, murder. Just don’t read it too close to dinnertime.