I Love You More: A Novel
Oliver Lane was a busy family man. He had three families going, with growing children (and one in the womb) from three different wives. One day, Oliver is found, his scheming head shot off, on the porch of his summer house on an island on the North Carolina coast. His 12-year-old daughter discovers his body. And this girl, Picasso Lane, is the first point of view in Murphy’s debut mystery. Picasso is probably the most important narrator, but the point of view switches from her to that of Kyle Kennedy, the police detective on the case, to that of the wives themselves, and even to the ghost of Lane at one point. This device is most satisfying when it comes to the perspectives of Picasso and Kennedy; the wives’ chapters are a bit ungainly, like a Greek chorus dragged in. The changing of perspectives adds a great deal to the mystery of the man himself and ofhis and the wives’ tangled relationships. A bit overwrought, but good suspense and a nicely creepy tone throughout. --Connie Fletcher