Waiting for Wednesday

January 6, 2014
Two strangely parallel murder cases, both involving obvious suspects who are later cleared, preoccupy Frieda Klein in French’s intricate and disturbing third novel featuring the London-based psychotherapist (after 2012’s Tuesday’s Gone). Ruth Lennox, a seemingly happy wife and mother, appears to have been the victim of a simple burglary gone wrong. Inconveniently, the burglar has a solid alibi that places him elsewhere at the time of Ruth’s death. George Conley, convicted of murdering 18-year-old schoolgirl Hazel Barton, is set free when the evidence against him is shown to be egregiously flawed. The police have no leads on who actually killed Hazel. In her quest for justice, Frieda succeeds in linking the two cases, but a jealous professional rival sabotages her formal efforts to help. The high personal cost that a number of people pay as Frieda exposes their embarrassing secrets may disconcert some readers. French is the pseudonym of Sean French and Nicci Gerard, a husband-and-wife writing team. Agent: Joy Harris, Joy Harris Literary Agency.

April 1, 2014
The murder of an inoffensive home health visitor is only the tip of the iceberg in London psychologist Frieda Klein's third case--and a very chilly iceberg it is, too. No one in Ruth Lennox's family can understand why she was savagely beaten to death in her own home. DCI Malcolm Karlsson reluctantly accepts the evidence that the killing at Chalk Farm was a burglary gone wrong, and, sure enough, there's a burglar; but he produces an alibi (another burglary, naturally) that clears him of Ruth's murder. As Russell Lennox and his three children begin to disintegrate under the pressure, Karlsson is more and more tempted to call on Frieda, even though her consulting contract has been canceled after the high-mortality finale of her last investigation (Tuesday's Gone, 2013). By the time Frieda finally enters the case--not as a consultant, but as the aunt of a friend of Ted Lennox, Ruth's 18-year-old son--another stew is already simmering. Aging reporter Jim Fearby, who's been watching apprehensively as a new appeal frees George Conley 10 years after he was convicted of strangling Hazel Barton, wonders who killed Hazel if it wasn't Conley. Since the police seem convinced they got the right man the first time, Fearby goes hunting on his own and soon links Hazel to half a dozen other young women who vanished under similar circumstances. Meanwhile, Frieda has become obsessed with tracking down the source of an anecdote one of her patients presented as his own memory. Her inquiries will eventually connect with Fearby's and Karlsson's but not before more dead ends, false confessions and unwelcome revelations than you can imagine, or perhaps desire. French's darkly ambitious tale piles on the complications until you beg for mercy. Hard-core fans of detective work as a vehicle for revealing the depths of the human soul will find it irresistible.

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Starred review from February 15, 2014
By all accounts Ruth Lennoxa wife and mother of three teenagers who was universally likedled a perfect life until she was murdered in her London home, likely in a burglary gone wrong. But when the prime suspect is ruled out, DCI Malcolm Karlsson approaches psychotherapist Frieda Klein for help. The big question, to Klein, is what the victim's secrets were, and a shocking one sets the case on end. Meanwhile, Klein, still fragile after being attacked (in Tuesday's Gone, 2013), is so intrigued by the script in a contrived study of therapists that she follows a thread that leads her to a journalist working on a potential cold case involving missing girls. At the same time, the intuitive Klein gets messages from shadowy serial killer Dean Reeve (from Blue Monday, 2012), who both stalks and protects her, and she sorely misses her lover in America. There's enough backstory for this third Frieda Klein mystery to stand alone, but the greatest pleasure is in following the series from the beginning to see the evolution of Klein, a detective of the mind, who endures a rough patch here but makes it through the darkness. Another compelling entry in this complex, suspenseful series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

Starred review from February 1, 2014

In French's third novel (Blue Monday; Tuesday's Gone) featuring London psychotherapist Frieda Klein, seemingly average mother Ruth Lennox is found murdered without apparent reason. As details of her secret life emerge, the cast of characters expose a web of tangled lives. Frieda gets involved when her teenage niece befriends the dead woman's son. The pace picks up after one of Frieda's patients, during therapy, makes an offhand remark that leads Frieda to believe a serial killer is at work. With personal connections to DCI Karlsson, our sleuth begins obsessively investigating leads on her own, making alliances that culminate in a sorrowful and astonishing conclusion. VERDICT Demanding the reader's full attention, this richly detailed and intricate thriller weaves the story of Frieda's life, past and present, into a compelling and suspenseful story. Fans of Elizabeth George will appreciate French's attention to subtlety and detail. Readers new to the series are advised to read the first two books in order to understand the ongoing plot of Frieda's life, including the pall cast by a past attack. [See Prepub Alert, 10/20/13.]--Susan Carr, Edwardsville P.L., IL

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