Someone Else’s Husband

Investment banker Richard Falk and his wife, Gretchen, are sound asleep in their swanky Upper East Side co-op when police arrive with a warrant in this entertaining mystery from bestseller McCreight (Like Mother, Like Daughter). Frankie Callahan, an artist whom Richard and his college friends met on a trip to Mount Kilimanjaro weeks earlier, has been stabbed to death in her East Village apartment—and Richard is under arrest for killing her. Desperate to keep up appearances and certain that her doting husband isn’t capable of murder, Gretchen assures the couple’s three grown children the arrest is a mistake. As Gretchen tries to figure out the nature of Richard and Frankie’s relationship, McCreight shuffles in vivid first-person chapters from Frankie’s perspective that cover both the dangerous mountain trek where she met Richard and the days before her death, during which she becomes increasingly agitated about a well-connected ex-boyfriend she believes is stalking her. Though savvy mystery readers might identify Frankie’s killer early on, McCreight delivers plenty of surprising secondary twists. Dynamic characters and expert pacing further bolster the proceedings. This should satisfy the author’s fans and win her new ones. Agent: Dorian Karchmar, WME. (June)