For Bailey Browne, it was love at first sight. But would it be the death of her, too? She met Logan Abbott on Grand Cayman Island, a fairy tale meeting to the start of a fairy tale life: “…he was so handsome... Mysterious…The tortured hero of novels. Wounded deeply by someone special to him. Waiting for just the right woman, the one who could make him whole again.”

He could have had any woman he wanted, with his chiseled good looks. So why her? But even as Bailey asks herself this question, she watches and wonders at Logan’s total devotion to her. Their days in paradise fly by and the happiness multiplies. When he asks her to marry him, there is no way she can turn him down. Bailey’s lifelong dream has finally come true. Then their forever-after begins, and the sobering reality of how total a stranger Logan truly is sets in.

"THE FIRST WIFE is a bona fide page-turner and a whopping thriller, but, more than that, it’s a romance lover’s dream. Murder mystery and love join hands in a fast-paced story that will make your heart pound."

As they drive toward Abbott Farm, a vast estate in Louisiana, he jokingly tries to brace Bailey for what she faces when they break the news to his terror of a sister. But Logan’s sister is the least of her problems. It seems there is a whole town to worry about. The tiny village of Wholesome in no way lives up to its name. A hotbed of gossip, Logan’s hometown is populated with jealous men and petty women. Some of its citizens are people who respect his family, but plenty of them would like to see the Abbotts get their comeuppance, most notable among them Billy Ray Williams, the local chief of police. It turns out that Billy Ray had a soft spot for True Abbott, Logan’s first wife.

Logan’s first wife? Bailey didn’t realize her new husband had been married before. Now she learns that, not only did he have another wife, but that wife went missing under mysterious circumstances. Rumors have been flying that she’s dead. But Logan doesn’t want to talk about True and turns moody whenever Bailey brings her up. Why is he being so secretive? Well, maybe it has something to do with the other women who have vanished from around these parts and left no trace of their whereabouts. For years now, Billy Ray has been building a case against Logan, using everything he can find to pin on him in his effort to implicate him in True’s disappearance. And if he can drum up evidence to pin the other missing women on Logan, too, so much the better.

Bailey is the stranger here. She does not know who to turn to. Even though she’s a woman who makes friends easily, will she confide in the wrong person? The entire town of Wholesome seems to be hiding something. And Bailey feels as though someone may be watching her. Just when she desperately wants to find comfort in the man she loves so passionately, doubts about him begin to creep in. Maddeningly, comments she’s been hearing have had a devastating effect on her trust, and now every time she looks at Logan, she suspects him of something. He sneaks out in the middle of the night. He’s been working late recently. And then, when another woman goes missing, he has no alibi for the most crucial of hours. How can Bailey not wonder about him? She doesn’t know him at all.

THE FIRST WIFE is a bona fide page-turner and a whopping thriller, but, more than that, it’s a romance lover’s dream. Murder mystery and love join hands in a fast-paced story that will make your heart pound.