Alafair Burke brings us her 12th solo novel on the heels of her Edgar-nominated THE EX. As relevant as today’s headlines, THE WIFE portrays in spellbinding suspense a story that peels away the layers of the complex characters involved in a sexual scandal, and keeps the pages turning to its shattering climax.

Angela had built a successful career as a caterer in the posh New York town of East Hampton, where she first met Jason Powell, a brilliant economics professor at NYU. They married after a whirlwind romance, which allowed Angela and her small son to move from her mother’s humble home and the scene of her tragic past, to Manhattan to create a new life under a new name.

"THE WIFE portrays in spellbinding suspense a story that peels away the layers of the complex characters involved in a sexual scandal, and keeps the pages turning to its shattering climax."

The first six years of their marriage were idyllic. They built a comfortable life with a good school for their son, whom Jason claimed as his own but never officially adopted. Angela gains a loyal following at Manhattan soirees for her catering skills, which she applies at her leisure. But when Jason writes a bestseller on economics and becomes the darling of talk shows, making frequent guest shots on cable morning news programs, their lives take a dramatic turn with his celebrity. Angela becomes concerned that her bubble of anonymity will burst. Will she be recognized by ghosts from her past?

A college intern in Jason’s firm publicly accuses him of exposing himself and trying to seduce her, which makes headlines because of his prominence. Angela rejects the allegations as do his business partners and friends. Even after a high-profile businesswoman, Kerry Lynch, accuses him of a much more grievous sexual assault soon after the allegations from the intern surface, Angela remains loyal. She continues to stick by Jason, but the media latches onto the story.

Angela’s photo appears in the press at public events with Jason, bringing unwanted publicity to Angela in the cocoon she has created for herself and her son. She worries that her quiet life and the cover she has so carefully constructed are in jeopardy of being blown. Shy by nature, her greatest fear is that if these accusations end up in court, she may have to take the stand to defend her husband, further exposing her family to her hidden past.

If there is a gene marker for writing, then Alafair Burke most certainly inherited her skills at creating engrossing, page-turning, even skin-crawling suspense from her father, James Lee Burke. Burke fans first meet the fictional Alafair as a wee child, rescued from a plane crash in book one of the long-running hit series featuring Dave Robicheaux. Her continuing presence in Burke’s bestselling detective novels makes one feel akin to the real Alafair, who grew up to become an attorney and a New York City prosecutor. She now teaches law, and lives and writes in Manhattan.