Killer Motives by Bonnie Traymore

Victoria Mancusio follows her husband Nick one night and discovers he’s having an extramarital affair. On the very same night, Nick’s lover is murdered in the house where Victoria spied on them kissing. And now the police are looking at him — and maybe her too — as suspects in the killing.

Bonnie Traymore has woven together a fascinating story of adultery, betrayal and murder in Killer Motives (Palmetto Publishing) — telling it through the eyes of both Victoria and Nick Mancusio as well as police detectives Jack Stark and Lexi Sanchez. These parallel stories of the investigators and the ones being investigated work very smoothly in this impressive debut novel by Traymore.

Oh, and it’s a helluva mystery too — I never figured out the killer until the end.

Charming Town Becomes a Crime Scene

Adding to all this is the Hudson Valley locale where Killer Motives is set — specifically the small town of Tarrytown in Westchester County, which is just north of New York City. Full disclosure here, I spent about ten years myself in Tarrytown so this locale for the book has a special appeal to me. And Traymore really captures the town and its people very well here.

But the real focus in the book is the troubled marriage of Victoria and Nick Mancusio — as well as the long-buried secrets that emerge from their troubled past — as both of then try to hold their marriage together despite the adultery committed by Nick and the police investigators on their doorstep. Are the two of them good people or bad people? The author keeps us guessing about that for a long time by making them at times unreliable narrators who hold back some crucial information until the end.

Nothing — And No One — Is What They Seem

The two cops, Jack Start and Lexi Sanchez, are wonderful characters too as they are forced to balance their own personal lives and problems with the demands of a high-profile murder investigation where they are under tremendous political pressure from above to make an arrest. Jack is the veteran detective and Lexi is supposed to be the young one learning from him. But it doesn’t always work out that way as we see the strengths and weaknesses of each of them as they pursue the tangled investigation.

The pages of this novel really fly by, filled with twists and surprises and multiple red herrings that you will never see coming.

There are plenty of other suspects that emerge along the way — a billionaire business tycoon who was being sued for sex harassment by the murder victim; co-workers and friends of Victoria and Nick Mancusio; prominent lawyers; a former FBI private investigator with mysterious ties to Victoria’s family; and even a supposed town psychic who insists that he experienced premonitions and feelings about the murdered woman.

All I can tell you is that nothing — and no one — in Killer Motives is what they seem to be. Which makes for a great read! There’s also a stand-alone sequel out to this book from Bonnie Traymore titled Little Loose Ends. I highly recommend you try that after you’ve finished this book. I know I will.