End of story

Lucy Foley and Lisa Jewell enjoyed this “truly masterful” 2024 release ( Nita Prose ) from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window! Crime fiction writer Nicky Hunter arrives at reclusive Sebastian Trapp’s mansion to pen his life story — only to find herself at the center of a real-life whodunit. Perfect for fans of: Knives Out. “Narrator Helen Laser breathes life into this convoluted murder mystery…Laser uses a multitude of accents for the diverse cast of characters: a gravelly voice for the narrative, a bright no-nonsense tone for Nicky, and snarky tones for Sebastian’s daughter. The writer’s cultured tones mesh with his second wife’s soft British accent.” — AudioFile “I’ll be dead in three months. Come tell my story.” So writes Sebastian Trapp, reclusive mystery novelist, to his longtime correspondent Nicky Hunter, an expert in detective fiction. With mere months to live, Trapp invites Nicky to his spectacular San Francisco mansion to help draft his life story . . . living alongside his beautiful second wife, Diana; his wayward nephew, Freddy; and his protective daughter, Madeleine. Soon Nicky finds herself caught in an irresistible case of real-life “detective fever.” “You and I might even solve an old mystery or two.” Twenty years earlier—on New Year’s Eve 1999—Sebastian’s first wife and teenaged son vanished from different locations, never to be seen again. Did the perfect crime writer commit the perfect crime? And why has he emerged from seclusion, two decades later, to allow a stranger to dig into his past? “Life is hard. After all, it kills you.” As Nicky attempts to weave together the strands of Sebastian’s life, she becomes obsessed with discovering the truth . . . while Madeleine begins to question what her beloved father might actually know about that long-ago night. And when a corpse appears in the family’s koi pond, both women are shocked to find that the past isn’t gone—it’s just waiting. ✳Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.