The Pocket Wife

January 26, 2015
Dana Catrell, the heroine of Crawford’s quirkily endearing debut, desperately needs to figure out what happened in those boozy, woozy hours between her argument with neighbor Celia Steinhauser and the discovery of the woman’s body—ideally before Paterson, N.J., Det. Jack Moss gets to the bottom of it. Though suburban homemaker Dana doesn’t believe herself capable of murder, she can’t be sure since she stopped taking meds for her bipolar disorder. Fortunately for Dana, Jack, who reminds her of her first love, is also somewhat off his game in the wake of his wife’s departure and the discovery that his estranged son, Kyle, seems to have been suspiciously close to Celia, Kyle’s GED teacher. As Dana continues to spiral out of control, her accelerating mania clouding her perceptions, Crawford manages for the most part to sidestep cliché and preserve her leading lady’s spunk, humor, and dignity. Although she’s less successful resolving the mystery, both Dana and Jack deserve an encore. Agent: Jenny Bent, Bent Agency.

October 1, 2014

Crawford, who's won four awards for her fiction and poetry from the Atlanta Writers Club, takes a big step forward: this thriller is going out with a 125,000-copy first printing, and foreign rights are starting to move. Dana Catrell is horrified when neighbor Celia is murdered and even more horrified when the evidence points to her; she suffers from bipolar disorder and was suffering a breakdown of sorts the last time she saw Celia.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2015
Dana Catrell's neighbor Celia is found fatally wounded hours after the women shared a cocktail-drenched afternoon. Dana can't remember much, aside from their argument over pictures Celia took of Dana's husband dining with another woman. Determined to recover her lost afternoon, Dana works on unraveling Celia's secrets; she feels certain she's making progress when someone leaves threatening notes for her, and she glimpses a hoodie-clad figure creeping around her house. But her husband, Peter, is convinced that Dana has slipped into a manic phase of her bipolar disorder and has written the notes herself. Although Dana was the last person to see Celia alive, appealingly conflicted Detective Jack Moss won't commit to arresting Dana until he is certain the clues pointing to Peter and someone in his own private circle are resolved. Because the tale is told primarily from Dana's sharp but manic perspective, suspense develops around her possibly unreliable interpretation of events. This is a gripping, character-driven mystery that would pair well with Sophie Hannah's The Truth-Teller's Lie (2010).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

February 15, 2015

After teacher Celia Steinhauser is found murdered in her home, Dana Catrell learns she was the last person to see her neighbor alive. Dana remembers arguing at Celia's house that day over a compromising photograph Celia had taken of Dana's husband. Unfortunately, they also drank too much sangria, and she can't remember anything else about the afternoon. As Dana investigates, she finds disturbing notes and other clues that cause her to question her own memory and suspect that she herself may have killed Celia. She is simultaneously consumed by building mania owing to her bipolar disorder. The captivating narration reflects Celia's progressively elated and fractured thoughts as she moves from energetic clarity to sleeplessness and self-destructive chaos. Alternating chapters follow diligent police detective Jack Moss as he navigates the many suspects (including his own son, a student of Celia's). In the final confrontation, the killer's confession comes a bit too easily, but the resolution is surprising, neat, and satisfying. VERDICT Descriptive, lyrical prose creates an intimate and visceral read that is both a solid mystery and a fast-paced psychological thriller. Try this first novel as a read-alike for Alice LaPlante's Turn of Mind. [See Prepub Alert, 9/15/14.]--Emily Byers, Tillamook Cty. Lib., OR

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.