The Frightened Wife

Plump, easygoing investigator John Samson (Death of a Man-Tamer) is as shrewd and analytical as ever here, but his infrequent appearances doom this thin, unconvincing mystery set in England. Jessica Lee is a submissive, unhappy wife who has premonitions that someone is out to do her great bodily harm. Since she has been uncannily prescient in the past, she hires Samson to investigate, but with instructions to begin his sleuthing only if something actually happens to her. Although she is unwilling to reveal much about her private life to him, Samson correctly deduces from her hesitant story that she has a lover, Patrick Armitage, and is terrified of her brutish and adulterous husband, Jack, a successful realtor with shady connections. Jessica resides with Jack and a sinister household staff in a fortress-like manor house, where she becomes a helpless prisoner when her husband discovers her affair. Samson and his indispensable secretary, Shandy, are called into action when both Patrick and Jessica disappear; they utilize their skills to interview wary villagers, outwit Jessica's guards and locate one of the missing duo. Unfortunately, the agreeable and multifaceted Samson plays a minor role in this book, which is dominated by heavy stereotypes and encumbered with an implausiblebut grislyending. (March)