WHO TO BELIEVE

Murder threatens to expose a tight-knit community’s darkest secrets.

When mechanic Richard Macomber comes out of the closet by leaving his wife, Unitarian minister Georgia Fitzhugh, for her therapist, Dr. Farley Drake, the trio becomes the talk of tiny Monreith, Massachusetts. Then someone binds, gags, and asphyxiates restaurateur Laurel Thibodeau in the home she shares with her husband and business partner, Simon, shifting the rumor mill’s focus. Simon has a known gambling problem and recently took out a hefty life insurance policy on Laurel, so even though he has an alibi for the night of the crime, everyone in town thinks he’s responsible except for Laurel’s lover, Damian Stone. Damian—a documentarian in search of a buzzy subject—thinks there’s a serial killer stalking the region, and that Laurel is the latest victim. During a drunken dinner party celebrating the birthday of his wife, Alice, Damian tries to get their guests—Richard, Farley, Georgia, and police chief Max Barbosa—to spitball regarding potential culprits. The group declines, dismissing his theory, but then later that evening, one of them is slain in the marsh, prompting the rest to wonder whether Damian is onto something. Confounding twists and seismic reveals stud Edgar nominee Hill’s meticulously crafted, diabolically plotted mystery. Structured to maximize suspense, the tale unfolds in seven parts, each with its own nuanced first-person-present narrator and unique voice. Every new section delivers a kaleidoscopic turn, reframing all that came before and keeping readers perennially off-kilter.

A devilishly clever delight.