Getting Away with Murder in ‘My Lovely Wife’

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Photo Credit: Jacqueline Kay Photography

No one knows what happens behind closed doors. We naively assume that we understand our neighbors, but New Orleanian Samantha Downing has crafted an enthralling tale of a seemingly upstanding and proper marriage with a stunning murderous twist that proves otherwise. My Lovely Wife tells a familiar tale of a quintessential couple who fell in love, started a family and moved to the suburbs. Like many couples, after 15 years of marriage, their relationship needed a spark. However, the horrific secret that reignited their marriage—getting away with murder—is anything but conventional. The couple’s decision to flame their passion by becoming serial killers is no doubt disturbing and intriguing. It also makes for a highly compelling read. The story that unfolds in My Lovely Wife is a well-crafted, wicked tale of relationships, marriage, family and the dark secrets we (try to) keep from the world.

In response to reading her debut suspense thriller My Lovely Wife, Milwaukee writer Nick Petrie said “Truly horrifying in the most delicious way. Samantha Downing sucks you in with a great story, pitch-perfect prose and disturbingly dead-on insights into the dark side of human nature. I hope I never meet her in a dark alley...”

Well, a dark alley it is not, but the pair will appear in conversation at Boswell Book Co. at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 18, to discuss this delicious and disturbing psychological page-turner. Downing’s passion for reading has led her on a circuitous route to becoming an author, and My Lovely Wife is her first publication. Nick Petrie is the author of the Peter Ash series, including The Drifter, which was nominated for an Edgar Award.