After He’s Gone

One day in 2018, Abby Crenshaw, the protagonist of this disappointing domestic thriller from Hyde (the Crime with the Classics mysteries), returns to her upscale home in Santa Cruz, Calif., to find her husband, Charles, “lying on his face with blood all over his head.” She knows he’s dead. What she doesn’t know is whether she killed him. Flashbacks to 2015 describe Abby’s first meeting with dashing, debonair, and wealthy Charles Crenshaw Junior when they were both attending law school at California’s Santa Clara University, as well as their whirlwind romance, their wedding, significant—if often disturbing—moments in their married life (including the unplanned birth of their daughter), and Abby’s growing fear that she’s losing her mind. Back in 2018, Abby and police detective Peter Rocher, the investigating officer on the Crenshaw case, share narrative duties. Peter is under pressure from the chief of police, a golfing buddy of Crenshaw Senior’s, to find the killer. The victim turns out to have absolutely no redeeming qualities, and the solution of his murder owes more to chance than detection. This one’s execution falls short of its promising setup. Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron & Assoc. (Apr.)