The First Wife

In suspense the novel The First Wife, Bailey Browne finds herself living her dream: new wife of handsome Logan Abbott. When they meet on vacation and fall in love, Bailey’s youthful dreams are realized when Logan sweeps her off her feet and whisks her away to his estate in Louisiana. Bailey is alone, with few friends and no family. Instant community through Logan and his connections seems too good to be true—as it is. Bailey’s dream turns to nightmare as she finds her husband, a man she knows little about, is under suspicion in his first wife’s murder. In addition, several other local women have also gone missing. A local police officer is building a case against Logan, who is eventually arrested. Bailey works to clear her husband’s name while dealing with her own doubts.

This is an excellent thriller. Bailey is a sympathetic heroine, and the plot has satisfying twists. Logan is by all appearances guilty. Both of his marriages are suggestive in that he quickly took up with lonely women. However, true greatness is missed by fulfilling genre expectations with Bailey’s clue-chasing in Logan’s evident guilt. It would have been better for her to struggle in dealing with a more logical truth. In life, those so apparently guilty usually are.