Anatomy of an Alibi by Ashley Elston: Unlikable Heroine, Frustrating Reveal

An intriguing premise that never quite delivers.

Synopsis

Two women. One dead husband. And only one alibi.

Everyone at Chantilly’s Bar noticed out-of-towner Camille Bayliss. Red lips, designer heels, sipping a Negroni. But that woman wasn’t Camille Bayliss. It was Aubrey Price.

Camille Bayliss appears to have the picture-perfect life; she’s married to hotshot lawyer Ben and is the daughter of a wealthy Louisiana family. Only nothing is as it seems: Camille believes Ben has been hiding dirty secrets for years, but she can’t find proof because he tracks her every move.

Aubrey Price has been haunted by the terrible night that changed her life a decade ago, and she’s convinced Benjamin Bayliss knows something about it. Living in a house full of criminals, Aubrey understands there’s more than one way to get to the truth—and she may have found the best way in.

Aubrey and Camille hatch a plan. It sounds simple: For twelve hours, Aubrey will take Camille’s place. Camille will spy on Ben, and the two women will get the answers they desperately seek.

Except the next morning, Ben is found murdered. Both women need an airtight alibi, but only one of them has it. And one false step is all it takes for everything to come undone.

Mini audiobook review

I gave five stars to First Lie Win, so I went into Anatomy of an Alibi fully expecting to love it. Sadly… this one didn’t grip me nearly as much.

Camille comes from a wealthy, crooked family and has been unhappy in her marriage for a while. She wants to leave her husband, Ben, a successful lawyer. But because of the prenup she signed, she needs to find dirt on him if she wants to walk away without sacrificing her lifestyle.

And that’s where the first problem started for me.

I just could not sympathize with a rich woman who wants out of her marriage—but not at the cost of her comfort. I held zero sympathy for Camille throughout the book. She wasn’t particularly impressive, witty, or compelling. Just… bland. Sheltered from the worst of her family’s crimes and quite content to live in that ignorance. “Ignorance is bliss” could honestly have been her motto.

Yes, she wants to distance herself from her family’s shady dealings, especially her father’s, and that’s about the only redeeming quality I could find in her.

Camille believes Ben is hiding something, and that’s how she plans to free herself. In the process, she meets Aubrey, initially thinking she’s Ben’s mistress. But the two women quickly realize Ben has a file on Aubrey that may be linked to her parents’ deaths.

They come up with an elaborate identity swap so Camille can spy on Ben. But then Ben is killed in a shocking turn of events. Now, they need a solid alibi to avoid prison. Only Camille has the perfect one, thanks to a trail of shop receipts.

From that point on, the whole book becomes a race to answer: who did it?

The beginning was genuinely interesting, even with Camille being deeply unlikable to me. But the constant switches between POVs and timelines quickly started to feel repetitive. The only characters I truly liked were Aubrey and Hank, Ben’s associate.

The pace does pick up toward the end and had my full attention again… until the reveal.

And that’s where my frustration came roaring back.

The killer made zero sense to me. There were no real clues, no breadcrumbs, nothing that would allow me to think, “Of course! It was there all along!”—which is exactly what I want from a good mystery. I want to be able to look back and see how the author played me. That didn’t happen here.

Ashley Elston proved with First Lie Win that she can write a tight, satisfying thriller, and I will absolutely read her next book. This one just didn’t meet my expectations.

And judging by the many higher ratings, this might simply be a case of it’s not the book, it’s me.

Thanks for reading.