The Housewife Next Door

By: LynDee Walker

Narrated by: Madeline Pell, Amelia Sciandra, Katie Beudert

She seemed to be the perfect wife, the perfect mom. But she had a secret she would kill to keep…

When I move to a remote spot in rural Kansas, I don’t know a soul. I’m delighted when I realise that the family next door has five children—perfect company for my baby boy. As I look at the smiling faces around the pine-scrubbed table in the sunshine-filled kitchen I feel a sense of hope. They’re all so loud. Soalive. But then I take a close look at their mom, SarahBeth. She’s strange, unfriendly, her face pinched. Almost as if she doesn’t want me there…

I’ve met plenty of unfriendly people in my own dark past. Usually, they’re hiding something. But when SarahBeth’s daughter tells me her mother’s secret ice slides down my spine. I’m beginning to love these kids like my own. I’ll do anything to help them.

I’m not family. I don’t really belong. But SarahBeth would be wrong to think I’m just a young single mother trying to make friends. I’ve done terrible things to protect those I care about. I’d hate her to learn the hard way what I’m capable of… I know how to protect the ones I care about. I’ve had to bury a few bodies to do so…

©2025 LynDee Walker (P)2025 Bookouture, an imprint of Storyfire Ltd.