Anatomy Of An Alibi – Ashley Elston

The conceit of Anatomy Of An Alibi is a little convoluted – see if you can follow along.

Camille Bayliss’s “perfect” marriage is actually anything but. She’s desperate to find hard evidence of her lawyer husband Ben’s misdeeds so that she can get out, and she enlists the help of Aubrey Price to do it. Aubrey will pretend to be Camille for a day, driving her car and carrying her phone, while Camille sets up hidden cameras to see what Ben gets up to while she’s not around. The thing is, at the end of that day, Ben winds up dead, and suddenly both Camille and Aubrey’s whereabouts at the time of the murder are under scrutiny – both of them have a motive, and neither of them have an alibi that holds up.

It’s an intriguing (if complicated) idea, and I was thrilled when my friends at Hachette Australia sent me a copy of Anatomy Of An Alibi for review.

The first ten chapters or so go over each element of the blurb step by step, so you have a better idea of what’s going on by the time Ben actually bites it. It’s just as well, because between the multiple points-of-view and the somewhat jumpy timeline, you need that exposition to be hammered out.

The story also treats the issue of technological surveillance a little inconsistently – Camille knows that Ben tracks her car’s movements, enough to manufacture a false trail for him on the day of the “alibi”, but doesn’t seem concerned that driving to the bar where she suspects his mistress works would tip him off, for instance.

The story takes place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and really evokes the emotional claustrophobia Old Southern money and boy’s clubs. I loved that aspect of Anatomy Of An Alibi, even if it’s a little tricky to keep track of who knows what and goes where when. All the pieces do eventually come together, and the conclusion is satisfying (if a little grim). I can definitely see this one being made into a dark thriller movie, with a Reese Witherspoon-type in the lead.

Read Anatomy Of An Alibi on audiobook via Libro.fm here. (affiliate link)