The English Wife

October 15, 2017
In the late 1800s, a woman investigates the mysterious circumstances behind her brother's death. Janie Van Duyvil has always felt like a wallflower, even among her own family. Her brother, Bayard, and her cousin Anne were best friends, leaving her out. Her imposing mother clearly favored Bay while expecting Janie to follow all her orders. When Bay takes a trip to London, he comes home with a mysterious new wife, Annabelle. No one seems to know much about Annabelle's past, especially not Janie. But when Janie and Anne find Bay dying during a lavish party at his house, a knife stuck in his chest, everything changes. Annabelle is nowhere to be found, and Janie is the only one who hears Bay's final word: "George." As people gossip and the papers invent stories about Bay and Annabelle, Janie wants to find out the truth. Rumors swirl: that Annabelle was having an affair, that Bay murdered her, and that Annabelle might actually have been an imposter. Together with a reporter named Burke (and against her mother's wishes), Janie begins to secretly investigate Bay's life and the circumstances behind his death. As she learns more, she starts to wonder whom she can trust. Is her own family hiding things from her? What about the man from Annabelle's past who claims to know who she really was? And does Burke really care about her, or is he just using her to get a story? The multitude of characters can be a bit confusing at first, but as the plot picks up, the novel turns into an engaging read. Willig (The Other Daughter, 2015, etc.) creates a story that is full of rich historical details about the Gilded Age in New York--the jewels, the luxurious fashions, the opulent homes, and the scandal that lurked behind the beautiful exteriors. The mystery is not easily solved, and readers will find themselves guessing until the very end. And though the story is primarily about the mystery behind Annabelle and Bay, it also features a satisfying romance between Janie and Burke. A dark, romantic mystery full of twists and turns.

COPYRIGHT(2017) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 27, 2017
Fans of romantic suspense will best appreciate this whodunit set in 1899 from bestseller Willig (The Ashford Affair). Janie Van Duyvil feels insignificant and out-of-place at a fancy Twelfth Night dinner party that her brother, Bay, and his wife, Annabelle, throw at the ancestral family home in Cold Spring, N.Y. Her self-pity is quickly superseded by horror after a cousin of hers stumbles on Bay lying on the ground outside the house, bleeding from a dagger wound. Bay utters the name George before expiring. Annabelle’s subsequent disappearance and a tabloid’s instant assertion that Bay murdered her before committing suicide heighten the tragedy of his death. Determined to exonerate her sibling, Janie turns investigator, finding passion and love along the way. Flashbacks to 1894 London introduce a woman known as Georgie and describe her initial encounter with Bay, interrupting the momentum of Janie’s story line, and awkward prose (“Fragments of poetry danced through her mind like crystal baubles”) is a minus. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, ICM.

November 1, 2017
Willig, author of the popular Pink Carnation series, transports readers to the last decade of the nineteenth century in her latest offering. Tragedy strikes at a ball at the home of handsome, wealthy New Yorker Bayard Van Duyvil and his lovely English wife, Annabelle, when Bayard is fatally stabbed and Annabelle disappears. Bayard's sister, Janie, is certain she saw Annabelle floating unconscious in the river by the house shortly before Janie and her cousin discovered Bayard. The newspapers paint the shocking events as a murder-suicide, with Bayard as the perpetrator. Janie is determined to get to the truth, and when she catches nosy but charming reporter James Burke snooping around her house, she decides to enlist his help. Sparks fly between the two as they discover Annabelle may not have been who she claimed to be. Willig alternates between Janie and Burke's investigation in 1899 and Bayard and Annabelle's courtship five years before to reveal both Bayard's and Annabelle's many secrets. The pages fly fast and furious in this thoroughly engaging, suspenseful yarn.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

September 15, 2017

It is 1899, and Bay and Annabelle are the golden couple of Gilded Age New York, enjoying a life of wealth and privilege. That is, until Bay is found murdered during a masquerade ball, and a missing Annabelle is accused of the crime. Bay's sister Janie defies her autocratic mother to investigate what really happened, with the help of an attractive journalist. Parallel to Janie's story is that of young singer Georgie, who struggles to make ends meet in 1894 London. But from whom is Georgie running, and what is her connection to Janie? Willig, best known for her best-selling "Pink Carnation" series, has a knack for creating sympathetic characters and fully fleshed settings, adding some juicy plot twists to this atmospheric period piece. VERDICT Fans of historical mystery series such as those by Victoria Thompson or Lawrence H. Levy will appreciate this stand-alone drama. [See Prepub Alert, 7/0/17.]--Laurel Bliss, San Diego State Univ. Lib.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2017

Once upon a time, Annabelle and Bayard Van Duyvil were the centerpiece of Hudson Valley high society. But during their Twelfth Night Ball, Annabelle went missing, Bayard was found stabbed to death, and his sister, Janie, joined forces with a reporter to discover what happened. Soon, Annabelle and Bayard start looking less like a golden couple than badly tarnished brass. From the New York Times best-selling "Pink Carnation" lady.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.