Getting Away with Murder by Shari Lapena
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Ted and Jill are rich from Ted’s inheritance and they’re living the great life, spending like the money will never end. But it does. Ted is foolish with money and they are about to go broke. Fortunately Ted is the only heir of Greg, his older brother, and Greg is filthy rich. He got all the brains. So of course they murder him, pushing him off his own sailboat. There is no evidence against them, so they’ve gotten away with murder, the perfect crime. Not so fast. There are a number of people who suspect them, including a Coast Guard Special Agent, Greg’s ex-wife, and Jill’s best friend. Then there’s the son of their cleaning lady, a ne’er-do-well hooked up- with some Russian toughs. Ted and Jill are very unlikable, of course, but the others involved show a devious and greedy side as well. Ted continues to bollix things up. Do they get caught and go to prison? Who gets the millions in the end? Hint: someone does. Like other reviewers, I’m not a fan of novels with unlikable main characters, but the plot is quite clever and plausible, so I was intrigued from the start. It’s worth picking a horse to root for and follow the story.