His Last Wife

November 1, 2014
Octavia (His Third Wife, 2013) continues the saga of Kerry and Val, two women drawn together by their relationships with Jamison, Atlanta's mayor, in this twisting tale. Kerry is in prison for pushing her ex off a roof right after he proposed to her. Val, Jamison's widow, who had intended to divorce him, has pledged to get Kerry out of prison because she knows she didn't do it. No one can understand why Kerry is being kept in prison, so Val puts the D.A. in a compromising position, and that does the trick: Kerry is freed. Kerry begins to believe the conspiracy theories claiming that Jamison was killed for his efforts to help African Americans secure higher quality education and jobs. Jamison's murder is not solved, but plenty of other secrets are revealed in the latest from the feisty, dramatic Octavia. Some plotlines stretch belief in a fun soap-opera style, and Kerry and Val remain resilient, unpredictable characters that readers will enjoy as their friendship grows.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)