Many of us have experienced the sudden onset of serious
illness in someone we love. A heart attack or stroke is
desperately frightening with such a potential for tragedy.
And even if the loved one recovers, life will never be the
same.
THE WIFE OF A LESSER MAN is partly narrated by Shelly Tame,
happily married to a loving, sexy, hard-working police
chief. Mark suffers a major heart attack one day.
Fortunately, with good care, he recovers. Changing his diet
is a sensible step, and he never smoked or drank. Not
everything returns to normality however and their love life
suffers.
With all-round support Mark is back at work, handling
routine cases and visiting murder scenes. A woman named
Karen Reed is found shot dead in her own home, and it looks
as though the killer was someone she knew. This is how a
police chief spends the Thanksgiving period. The victim is
missing a bracelet from her effects, which is visible in a
photo of her. A jewelery store however assesses the image
as 'run of the mill Swarovski' which is not much help...
unless the killer has taken it as a token. When a similar
shooting occurs the prospect of a serial killer sends
chills through the department and draws intense media
coverage, keeping Mark on his feet. Meanwhile, Shelly gets
asked out for a drink by the well-built new yoga
instructor. She thanks him, just saying she's married, but
for how long can she resist temptation?
I disliked being unable to find a location for this story.
Possibly the author Sandy Appleyard is so familiar with her
setting that it does not occur to her that readers
elsewhere would like details; even a state would do.
Descriptions are bland: a street block, a station house, no
fine points such as adobe, stucco, gingerbread, steel and
glass. The weather is cold in November but no plants are
mentioned. Food mainly consists of turkey, no local dishes.
The story is well thought-out and peopled by very human
characters, removing it from the typical crime story. Crime
scene details are plentiful, if not always pleasant.
Followers of procedural crime stories will be keen to read
this and there are interesting personal dilemmas. I just
felt that THE WIFE OF A LESSER MAN could have been
better.
They were deeply in love, their days and nights filled with
scintillating romance and passionate love making-even after
20 years of marriage. Then fate delivered a hammer blow when
a heart attack led to Mark's impotency and Shelley's
unbearable frustration.
Encouraged by a friend, Shelley becomes flirtatious and
unfaithful, finding those moments of glorious intimacy for
which she hungered with another man. Mark, a police chief,
suspects nothing as he channels all his time and energy into
tracking down a serial killer.
But when the murderer leaves a terrifying final clue too
close to home, only Shelley can solve the case.
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