Her Last Affair

Bestseller Searles (Help for the Haunted) explores the entwined fates of three apparently unconnected individuals in this melancholy work of psychological suspense. Retired nurse Skyla Hull’s adulterous husband died a year ago, but she waited until macular degeneration stole her sight to seek a tenant for the vacant cottage on her upstate New York property. Skyla rejects multiple applicants for petty reasons before British divorcé Teddy Cornwell charms her into renting him the place sans background check. In Florida, unhappily married empty nester Linelle Durfort feels unmoored after losing her job teaching art, so when former flame Teddy reconnects via social media, she takes her husband’s prized Camaro and heads north for a surprise visit. And while staying in Providence, R.I., for a freelance writing gig, failed novelist Jeremy Lichanel decides to look up Maryanne Popadowski, a woman who spurned him 20 years earlier. What initially seems like an aimless triptych of character studies coalesces into a tense, intricately woven tale of heartbreak, retribution, and redemption. Lisa Jewell fans will be well satisfied. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Literary. (Mar.)