by Gina LaManna
Penny backed away, inching toward Peter. Ryan stepped between her and the crib and raised his hand. He grasped her chin between his fingers, hard.
“I hoped it wouldn’t come to this. I was prepared to come clean about what I’d done for you, for us…but only when you were ready. You’re not ready yet.”
“You murdered a man just to be with me?”
“Roman was a sad excuse for a man. He didn’t understand the word ‘commitment.’ When I found out you thought he was the father of your child, I had to do something about it.”
“You planned his murder for months.”
“God, you ladies made it easy. You talked point blank about killing him. I couldn’t believe my luck—it was too perfect. Apparently, the lawyers thought so, too. That court case is a fucking mess.”
“How…”
“One little listening device sewn into your purse, and I heard everything. Unfortunately, I know you found the bugs this afternoon. The trackers. You shouldn’t have touched them, Penny. I saw you, heard you. I’m always listening, watching.”
“How’d you do it?”
“What, kill him?” Ryan smiled. “I’m not proud of the murder— that bit is messy. But the rest of it was perfect, I have to admit. The knife’s availability was made possible by you, darling. You and your filthy little habit of stealing. Yes, I know you stole the knife from Eliza. I know you also stole wineglasses from her. I would have bought you those things new, but you didn’t let me.”
“You’re the one who took them from my apartment?”
“The knife was easy. I held on to that for a while. You didn’t notice it was missing, which was a small relief.”
“You were biding your time.”
“I didn’t plan on the big event being the eve of Valentine’s Day, but it’s fitting, don’t you think? He didn’t deserve romance. That afternoon, when I heard y’all talking about murder, I couldn’t hold back. I listened and waited, like I’d been doing for months, and it paid off. Talk about destiny. It had already been planned, and then you all tied it up with a big, fat bow. There was a nice sprinkling of evidence and motive for everyone. Plenty to go around to muddy the waters.”
“You went into Eliza’s house? How?”
“It’s easy to get through the door when it’s left open. Eliza left in such a rush, she didn’t bother to close it. Quick jaunt upstairs and voilà. Roman was naked in the shower, rinsing off his latest conquest, when I got to him.”
Penny winced. “That is awful. He didn’t deserve to die.”
“He did.”
“That wasn’t your choice to make.”
“You’re welcome. I made a difficult decision, but it was for the best, Penny. For us. I’m telling you it was fate.”
“Fate is not an excuse for murder.”
“It was too easy to do it. It was destiny. The rest, after the murder, was a fucking cakewalk. I just had to plant a little seed of doubt in everyone’s mind to point the attention away from us. Y’all wanted Roman dead, so that part was easy. You know it’s true. Even you doubted your closest friends.”
Penny didn’t respond, because that bit was true. She’d wondered if Eliza, Mark, Marguerite, or even Anne had been guilty over the course of the trial. Had she truly believed one of them had done it? That was hard to say.
“I decorated the murder weapon with Eliza’s fingerprints— transferred from the wineglass, easy peasy, thanks to you. Anne’s a nutcase who hides it well. All I had to do was turn up her issues with postpartum depression and booze. It was a bonus people thought Mark did it. But that man doesn’t have the balls to do what I did.”
Penny’s skin crawled. She’d moved in with this man. She’d thought they could be a family, that he could be a father, maybe a husband. Had she ever gotten it wrong.
“Don’t go feeling sorry for him,” Ryan said. “Roman was the scum of the earth. I couldn’t risk you ever going back to him. I knew you wanted him to be the father. I waited for months— months—for you to tell me about my own child. I had to watch from a distance as you grew our baby, and I had to pretend to be surprised when you finally came clean to me.”
“I didn’t know what to say.”
“I had to walk into that ridiculous office that you called a job opportunity and pretend to run into you. Pretend to count on my fingers back about…oh, nine months. How thick do you think I am? You should have told me about my son. What you did was fucking rude, Penny.”
“I’m sorry. I should have told you, but I didn’t know who the father—”
“The baby is mine. I know it.”
“How can you possibly know?”
“I told you, it’s fate,” Ryan said. “We’re destined to be together. We always were. From the day you walked into class, I knew I’d have you. One way or another.”
“It was all an act. The nice guy. Letting me go out with Roman.”
“I am patient. I am a talented actor, even if the world hasn’t realized it yet. I am intelligent—far more intelligent than that imbecile Roman. I was patient. Watched, waited.”
“You mean you stalked me. Spied on my every move.”
“The four of you women talked about how to murder a man in your book club. You wanted it; you set me up. Who the hell cares if the courts never get a conviction? Roman’s out of the way, and that’s what matters. Everyone’s better off for it—you, Anne, Eliza, Marguerite. You should all be thanking me.”
“It’s not your job to play God.”
“I wasn’t playing God. I was just helping to scoot our destinies along in the right direction. A gentle touch, if you will.”
“A knife to the heart isn’t very gentle.”
“No, but it was pretty damn poetic. Not bad for a struggling actor.”
“What now?” Penny pressed. “How do you expect to get away with it?”
“I expect we’ll get away with it together. You won’t say anything. If you do, I’ll be forced to…take Peter under my wing. As a single parent.”
“You wouldn’t kill me.”
“I love you, sweetheart.” Ryan had dropped his hand from Penny’s chin, but at his declaration of love, he grabbed her by the back of the head and pulled her against him. His tongue burned against hers as he shoved it into her mouth. He pulled away, whispered hotly against her cheek, “But I won’t go to prison for you. My son needs me.”
“He’s not your son,” Penny said. “He’s my baby. Just mine.”
“I wish it didn’t have to come to this, but I planned for all scenarios. Bottle of sleeping pills, a note of postpartum depression from the doctor. It was all too much for you, the baby, the trial… It tipped the pretty Penny Sands right over the edge.”
“You’re right,” Penny said finally. “This is fate. You and me. Maybe you were right all along.”
“It’s too late for that.” Ryan clucked his tongue. “You don’t love me anymore.”
“I meant this.” Penny nodded toward the baby monitor. The one that had belonged to Anne once upon a time. The fancy-schmancy device that streamed live to an app. “Ironically, you gave me the idea.”
“The idea?” Ryan sounded unsure for the first time. “What idea?”
“You’ve been watching me for months. Creepy, Ryan. Creepy. So I figured you wouldn’t mind if I reciprocated.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Anne still has the app to this baby monitor on her phone—it was her hand-me-down. I called her on the way here, and she’s livestreaming everything we say. Recording it, too. In the car with her is her husband. Mark is a cop…but I’m sure you know that. You know everything, right?”
Ryan’s eyes widened. “You’re bluffing.”
“Am I?” Penny used the element of surprise to her advantage and jerked her knee upward, connecting with Ryan’s groin. “Sweet dreams, asshole.”
Then Penny marched to the crib and picked up Peter, deftly avoiding a groaning Ryan. By the time she made her way to the living room, the door
had burst open, unlocked by the spare key Penny had left downstairs with Anne and Mark.
Mark burst into the room first, his gun drawn. Anne was just behind him, her face white, her hand clutching a cell phone where the livestream was still happening. Ryan’s groans echoed from her phone, giving an eerie surround sound to the man’s agony.
Behind Mark and Anne poured in more cops, some plainclothes detectives, others in uniform. Penny didn’t pay them any mind; she just held Peter close and huddled against Anne as Mark arrested Ryan.
When Mark appeared, leading Ryan out of the apartment in handcuffs, she met Ryan’s gaze head-on.
“You bitch,” he said. “I did this for you, for us. And this is how you repay me?”
“Take charge, asshole,” Penny said. “Never underestimate book club.”
_______________________________
An excerpt from an article in the Iowa Times
August 2019
By: Penny Sands
Earlier today in Los Angeles, Eliza Tate was released after spending months in prison for a crime she did not commit. In related news, Ryan Anderson has confessed in a plea deal to the murder of Roman Tate.
When asked for a quote, Eliza said, “For the full story, you can buy my book.”
Eliza Tate’s first nonfiction book, Taking Charges, will be out in May 2021.
Gina LaManna is a USA Today bestselling author. She has written more than thirty novels that include Pretty Guilty Women, Sprinkled, and Shades of Pink, among many others. She lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota, with her husband and son. Visit the author online at ginalamanna.com.
READING GROUP GUIDE
1. Which of the three main characters did you find the most interesting? Who did you identify with the most?
2. How did you feel about the courtroom interludes? How do you think they changed your perceptions of the rest of the book?
3. Eliza tells Anne: ‘You shouldn’t live your life like me. It will only get you in trouble.’ Given the way the book turns out, what do you think of her advice?
4. Anne seems guilty and upset when she consults Luke Hamilton. Would you ever hire a private investigator? How comfortable would you be?
5. Marguerite’s vegan, gluten-free, wholesome lifestyle is a facade she keeps up to capitalize on trends. Do you think most modern-day influencers are like that? How does that reflect the progression of social media?
6. What did you think of Ryan when he was first introduced? By the end of the book?
7. If Marguerite’s book was condoning, or even recommending, murder, would you consider her responsible for deaths that might result? How much can an author be expected to control the way her books are interpreted?
8. What did you think of Penny’s ‘hobby?’ Is it as harmless as she thinks?
9. Eliza, Anne, and Penny all lie in some way to keep up appearances. Do you think they have good reasons? How do these lies hurt them?
A CONVERSATION WITH THE AUTHOR
Eliza, Anne, and Penny have followed three very different paths in life. Are they inspired by women you know? Do you see yourself in any of them?
While my real-life relationships and experiences have always inspired my work, I tend to avoid having a single person in mind as I create my characters. I like them to be unique individuals, a combination of traits from people I’ve met or read about over the years. I fill in the rest with my imagination.
If anything, I see myself in my characters more than any other person. Little bits, here and there. Penny’s dreamer-like attitude. Anne’s hectic mom-life. Eliza’s desire to work hard and succeed. I hope many women can relate to at least one of the characters in Three Single Wives, if only a glimmer.
Anne’s postpartum depression is integral to the way that other characters treat her. Did you do much research on the topic?
I did do a fair amount of research prior to writing Anne’s character. Postpartum depression isn’t something that is discussed a lot publicly, but it is a very real, very scary illness that affects many women. I think by talking about it and researching it, we can bring the subject to light. The end goal is to bring awareness to women and help one another recognize that there is help available.
When you started writing, did you know who the murderer was? How did you map out the courtroom scenes throughout?
I thought I knew who the murderer was when I started writing, but as it turns out, I didn’t! The first ending I wrote isn’t the same one that is in the book now. After writing the first and even second draft, I did a hefty set of revisions that included changing the murderer, and I feel the book is much stronger now.
As for the courtroom scenes, I added those in after the rest of the novel was complete. I mapped out a chronological timeline of the events as they unfolded and then peppered in little bits of information each time we visited the courtroom.
Do you have more fun writing righteous characters defending their own, like Anne, or characters who take whatever they please, like Roman?
I think it’s important to have a wide mix of personalities. If everyone were the same – in reality or in fiction – life would be boring! By having a slew of characters with various motives and dirty secrets and differing moral codes, and then mixing them all together – it creates quite an explosive plot.
With Three Single Wives following Pretty Guilty Women, you seem to a have a flair for ensemble casts of women. What draws you to those kinds of stories?
I find fascination in how we, as women, deal with the issues we are faced with every day. Between societal pressures, our roles as wives, mothers, caregivers, employees, chefs, etc., there’s an almost suffocating list of things expected from us. Each woman handles these pressures differently, and I think we all long for others who understand what we’re going through – not only the good, but also the bad and even the ugly. Who wouldn’t want to have a group of friends who have their back . . . no matter what?
Where do you start a book? A scene, a character, a corpse?
I start usually start a book with a title or a question. In the instance of Three Single Wives, however, I started with characters. I started with Penny moving out to Los Angeles, then Eliza and Roman. Anne naturally fitted into the equation, rounding out the three perspectives I wanted to explore in the novel. I built the story around each of their secrets.
You chose an apt setting for this story. What drew you to LA?
I’m fascinated with LA and Hollywood, and the fact that the entertainment industry seems to exist in a world of its own. I moved to Los Angeles after college and lived there for six years, and it does feel different to live in the middle of it all. There’s a very eclectic, creative ambiance, and I credit living in Los Angeles for kickstarting my desire to write. I now live in Minnesota with my husband and family, but I will always be grateful for my time spent on the west coast. Not least of all because I met my husband there and brought him back to Minnesota!
Are you a self-help reader yourself? What kinds of books appear on your bedside table?
I don’t read a lot of self-help, but I have read a handful over the years. I read across almost every genre. As I have an eleven-month-old son, I currently have a couple of parenting books on my nightstand. I always have a slew of mystery and suspense books that I’m trying to catch up on, though my TBR will be forever endless!
What’s next for you?
I am currently working on my third suspense novel that will be in the vein of Pretty Guilty Women and Three Single Wives. You can expect more bodies, more secrets, and more women with complicated lives and even more complicated decisions before them. I have several additional series that are currently available, and you can find my entire catalog at ginalamanna.com. There, you can also join my newsletter to be kept up to date on cover reveals, news, and release dates.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am beyond grateful to the wonderful teams at Sourcebooks and Little, Brown and Company. In particular, a very special thanks to the wonderful Shana Drehs and
Rosanna Forte. It is a dream come true to work with editors as talented as you both.
To my agent, Sarah Hornsley, for everything you do. This book wouldn’t have been possible without your guidance and support. Thanks also to Jenny Bent and the Bent Agency for your absolutely fantastic work. I appreciate all you do.
Thank you to my husband, Alex, and to my son, Leo. You two are my entire world, and I love you both so much.
Thank you to my mom, my dad, and my sisters, Kristi and Megan. Thank you for helping make this book possible by playing with Leo so I could get some work done!
A huge thanks to Rissa Pierce, Katie Hamachek, Michelle Foss, Kim Griggs, and Nicole Boelter for always being there for me over the years.
And a huge thank-you to Stacia Williams. I don’t know where I’d be without you. Thank you for your incredible friendship.
