The California of The Secret Lives of Murderers’ Wives

Submitted: 8th April 2026

The Secret Lives of Murderers’ Wives

Set in California, this novel is very Housewives of Beverly Hills, Stepford Wives .. you get the idea. But this is 1960s California so this is gingham, sunglasses and cocktails on the lounge when the baking is cooling inside the villa…

Map of The Secret Lives of Murderers’ Wives

The California of The Secret Lives of Murderers' Wives

The sun might be out in the novel but for women at the time, there was hardship – women found many barriers to them progressing or having freedom in society at the time. Women were dismissed or told they could not do something or say something. Women were misjudged more than they are today. Women’s voices were silenced.

Map of The Secret Lives of Murderers’ Wives

Lake Berryessa

On September 27, 1969, at Lake Berryessa, the Zodiac killer attacked college students Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepard in a broad daylight.

Map of The Secret Lives of Murderers’ Wives

Now if you were married to a mobster at the time, the rules it turns out, were not that different. If you were the wife of a serial killer, you would have a very different view of the world…

Take Beverley, Elsie and Margot – all three of them were married to serial killers. Not now of course, but that’s how they know each other. A sisterhood born from murder. So when a serial killer appears to be working in the California area they decide to take matters into their own hands.

California

Map of The Secret Lives of Murderers’ Wives

In real life, the 1960s in California were marked by the terror of the unidentified Zodiac Killer, who murdered at least five people in the Bay Area between 1968 and 1969.

There was also the Manson Family cult, which committed the notorious Tate-LaBianca murders in Los Angeles in August 1969. Whether you know much of the real life cases or not, it gives a taste of the fear that would be apparent at that time.

The novel is not as serious as the crimes mentioned would suggest but it’s a Edward Scissorhands style of novel – one where the spirit and TV of the time, the music of the era and the keeping up with the Joneses gives the real flavour of the California here. An intoxicating mix!