A Better Ending: A Brother's Twenty-Year Quest to Uncover the Truth About His Sister's Death

by James Whitfield Thomson

A propulsive and moving memoir about a brother’s decades-long investigation into the circumstances surrounding his sister’s tragic death—and his own journey to forgiveness and closure

In September 1974 Jim Thomson learned that his younger sister, Eileen, had taken her own life. Only twenty-seven years old, she was a bright, bubbly secretary, married to her high school sweetheart, Vic, now a cop in San Bernardino, California. But when Jim returned to the family home for the funeral he learned that Eileen had been depressed that summer, her storybook marriage racked by infidelity and guilt. One turbulent afternoon she found herself in an empty room with a gun in her hand.

Nearly three decades later Jim started to write a book about Eileen, hoping to fill in the blanks of her tragic story. What demons had she been battling? Why had she kept so many secrets? Increasingly frustrated by how little he knew, Jim hired a private investigator to help him track down Eileen’s friends and the police reports from her case, a years-long quest that would ultimately reveal a web of anger and deception far more complicated than he had ever imagined—and force him to reconsider everything he thought he knew about his sister, Vic, and himself.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography Memoir, Audiobook, Crime

301 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 25, 2025

About the author

James Whitfield Thomson grew up on the North Side of Pittsburgh and attended Harvard College on scholarship. After graduation he served three years in the Navy as navigator of a supply ship off the coast of Vietnam. Jim earned a Ph.D. in American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, writing his dissertation on the detective novelist Raymond Chandler. Following a brief stint teaching literature in academia, he joined a start-up venture as a salesman. The company’s rapid success allowed him to retire early and devote himself to writing. He has published stories in a number of literary magazines including Agni and The Ledge and has been a Massachusetts Council for the Arts grant recipient. Jim and his wife, Elizabeth, live in a Victorian farmhouse outside of Boston and have five globe-trotting children. Lies You Wanted to Hear is his first published novel. You can find him on Facebook

Reviews

[Brendan (History Nerds United) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I want to be clear that what I am about to write is not hyperbole. I have never been left so enraged by a book as I have by James Whitfield Thomson's A Better Ending. I am enraged because it is badly put together. I am enraged because Thomson besmirches the name of multiple people who are not alive to defend themselves (and quite a few of them are his family members). But most importantly, I am enraged that a book about a woman's suicide turns her into an object.

Eileen was Thomson's sister. She is reported to have committed suicide after an argument with her husband. Years later, Thomson decides to reopen the case. Why? Well, Thomson himself admits multiple times that he was trying to write a crime novel and decided to write about this instead. He then starts to convince himself that he has been repressing doubts for years and that this is now his mission.

This story is badly paced and written. Recreated dialogue sounds either stilted or heavily dramatized to make the exact points Thomson wants to make. Many chapters and characters are filler. It felt like a TV episode where they stretched out everything to meet a time requirement. You ultimately find out the climactic confrontation is anything but satisfying and much of the narrative before it was extraneous information. Would you like to know that information? Well, Thomson's father was an abusive drunk as was his brother. Thomson is no peach either and I have a feeling many readers will put this book down and never return to it after he admits something about his own past. Thomson's father, brother, and mother are all dead and can't defend themselves or try to repair their reputations. I read these sections hoping that Thomson had a good reason to air his family's dirty laundry. He does not.

None of this helps the reader better understand Eileen. In fact, I am disgusted about how she is treated. Who she was as a person is an afterthought. Was she feisty? Maybe. Some people said yes while others said no. Do you know what I am sure of? She was busty. I know this because her brother, the author, comments on her chest size twice in the narrative. No, her chest size does not in any way affect the story.

But do you know what Thomson thinks does NOT affect the story? Eileen's two miscarriages. You see, Thomson TWICE shuts down women in this book and tells them the miscarriages Eileen suffered have nothing to do with the possibility of Eileen's suicide. It is because this book is all about going after Eileen's husband. This is about Thomson the crusader. It is not about Eileen. I know this as a reader because at NO POINT does Thomson stop and reflect on a simple question. "If Eileen did kill herself, why did she do it?" Answering that question would require Eileen to be front and center. She would be a full character. She would be someone with hopes, dreams, struggles, and a marriage that went horribly wrong. Thomson himself admits that she kept things from him before her death. His book doesn't attempt to answer what happened to his sister that day. It is entirely focused on if Thomson can make a true crime case against her husband.

I cannot under any circumstances recommend this book to anyone.

(This book was provided as an advance copy by Netgalley and Avid Reader Press.)

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

ARC for review. To be published March 25, 2025.

A….hmmmm…somewhat interesting, definitely different take on true crime, I’ll say that for it.

One day in 1974 the author came home from a baseball game to find that his younger sister, Eileen, 27, had taken her own life. Jim, his parents and his brother were left reeling. Eileen had been living in California with her high school sweetheart husband, Vic, a cop, had a job she loved and lots of friends. But her family learned she had been depressed. In the day she died she and Bic fought and he stormed out of the room; moments later a gun went off.

Cut to 2001. Jim’s parents and brother were dead and Jim found himself thinking about Eileen, wondering why she hadn’t told anyone about her troubled marriage. He hired a private investigator to track down her old friends and a disturbing picture began to emerge.

So, like I said, this was interesting. Definitely true crime, but also hard to totally categorize. First, for Jim to start investigating so long after the incident, I was amazed at how many people were still alive, around and available.

It’s hard to discuss anything about the book for fear of spoilers. I will say, generally, that there was a depressing history of violence against women and children throughout, and, in what should come as a surprise to exactly no one, men believe men when it comes to women’s claims of domestic violence…and it appears to have been no big deal in the 1970s to knock the little woman around a little. I mean, they just won’t listen, amIrite?

The book was maybe a bit long and I’m curious about the time lag between the events that take place and publication. That’s a big thing that is not explained. So, if it appeals to you, and you really like true crime, give it a go.

[Traci Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good reported crime memoir. I loved the tone he struck in investigating his sister's death. It is very straightforward and engaged without being too sentimental or intense. It is a simple book, nothing special, but it does what it sets out to do so well it makes it look easy.

[Tooter · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free copy of, A Better Ending, by James Thomson, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. In 1974 Eileen Thomson committed suicide, at the age of 27. Eileen's older brother James decides to investigate his sisters life and death. Their is no bond like a the bond of siblings. This was an interesting read about a brothers love for his sister.

[Maureen Grigsby · Rating 4 out of 5]

The subtitle tells it all.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, heart wrenching story of a brother’s search for truth about his sister’s death. I read the first third of the book and then skipped to the last third and was easily able to pick the story up again. It does drag on as the reader waits for the truth to come out. I guess the author planned it that way to replicate reality. Had an interesting point that all the stories on 48 Hours always wrap up with finding the killer and solving the case to satisfy the viewer.

[Angela Bezold · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would have done the same thing the author did. It must have been so hard for him either way his investigation led him. I can not even imagine one of my siblings dying under these conditions.

[MS STEPHANIE · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have survived the death of a loved one by suicide, this is a must read. My son's suicide was well investigated and the officials in charge were very patient explaining the evidence to me. Jim Thompson's sister's suicide was not well investigated and left him with nothing but questions.

How he managed to write a book filled with suspense about a subject long in the past is beyond me. I was constantly picking up the book in between all the chores that life requires of us. I reread many passages.

For me, this helped solidify my sense of what wrong in my son's life. The loss is still ever-present, though time heals and shared experiences heal.

Even if you do not have a suicide among your loved ones, I do recommend this book. The writing is incredibly deft and astonishing.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book. Tricky to review in detail, as I don't want to give spoilers. I think knowing the ending in advance might have detracted from my reading experience. What I can say, which is obvious from title and book jacket, is that the gist is his sister died as a young woman in 1974, allegedly by suicide, but some of the facts/circumstances (her husband was present; a friend's 2-year old whom she was babysitting was present; the couple had recently been separated...) raised questions. At the time, the husband's answers satisfied all including the author.........

......but in 2001, after author's parents and only other sibling had died, he found himself troubled by not knowing more about what led up to his sister's death and began looking into it with help from a private detective. And from there it's an excellent true crime story with the twist that everyone knows perfectly well who did it (husband) IF there was a crime at all, which is the great unknown.

The author's level of persistence and ingenuity in pursuing answers to an extremely cold decades-old case are remarkable. I think I'd have given up quite a few times along the way upon hitting dead ends, unresponsiveness from those in a position to find or provide info, discouraging perspectives on whether the case could ever be prosecuted, and just generally the toll on his personal life that digging into it took.

Some topics/themes/observations along the way:

--again don't want to spoil with specifics, but the author's family had more than their share of tragedy even aside from his sister's death.

--The ex-brother-in-law was a police officer, and whether or not "thin blue line" was impeding the attempt to get to the truth is a recurring issue.

--It's overall not a funny situation to say the least, but you do get glimpses of a dry, understated sense of humor in the writing, notably in descriptions of his multigenerational family, his experience as a high school football star, and his brief sketches of some of the many people encountered on the investigative path. I think I'd like reading his work on other topics as well.

--Does a great job of balancing keeping the main true crime story the focus vs. bringing out details (not always flattering) about himself and other members of his family. These vignettes could I suppose be viewed as tangential, as they don't bear on the basic suicide/homicide question that is the through-line of the book, but they are relevant for your empathy with the characters as well as for understanding the emotional responses involved (angry vengeance-seeking vs. forgiveness or acceptance; guilt; grief; frustration with bureaucracy; sense of solidarity with those who helped......).

All told, strongly recommend. I'm a psychotherapy supervisor, and I used to watch "Cold Case" regularly, so I might be above average in receptivity to the topic, but I think a wide range of people would find it engaging and thought-provoking.

[Skyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you so much to James Whitfield Thomson, Avid Reader Press, Simon & Schuster, and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A Better Ending exists as a shining example of a brother doing everything it takes to uncover the truth behind his late sister's death. The brother in question: James Whitfield Thomson. And what makes this unique? The death of his sister, Eileen, happened just about 3 decades prior to this novel's publication.

I applaud the author for investing so many years of his life into investigating his sister's suicide. It shows great dedication and devotion to the subset matter. However, there is some language scattered throughout the book that just rubbed me the wrong way. I know that this might just be a generational nitpickiness on my end, but I do believe that this novel could have benefitted from a female view--whether it be a more in depth interview of the deceased's female friends, or even another round of editing from a female editor. I just finished the novel with a feeling that some things were missed, or even that more secrets of the past could have been uncovered with an alternate view on the matter.

A particular chapter near then end of the novel really stood out to me. Without spoiling too much, this is in regards to a mention about the amount of time since Eileen's last miscarriage--with the suicide occurring roughly 9 months after she miscarried. Only Eileen's husband's new wife, Laura deemed this important at the time. Despite this timing issue and its relationship to the suicide being brought up, Thomson merely brushes this idea aside, deeming it not relevant to the narrative at hand. However despite this hiccup, everything else seems well researched and written.

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a memoir more than an investigative survey for the attempts to get more factual truth about his sister's death. It's long and incredibly descriptive. It holds clear quality prose flow nuanced to emotion at every point of progressive lengths of time passed. But it does core about his own birth family onus/ context as much or even more than it ever does upon his sister's period of finality.

The first half I would have given a full 4 stars. But the longer the inquiries and decades went on! Particularly after years of hiring the professional to help him retrieve witness and other closely related criteria about his sister's last weeks, last days? It became immensely repetitious. Also at times he left others' stories and facts of relationship/ interchange of events within Part 1. And then rather piecemeal added the rest of the conclusive states much latter, usually in Part 3. Upon his brother, most especially, he did this. Also putting his own reactive moments upon the quality of his own relationship with him (the brother), as much as the dire situations and illnesses his brother experienced. Most of which the brother brought on himself, but still? This made some angles of this whole piece progression become a little choppy.

Part 1 was good. Part 2 was 3.5 stars. Part 3 was not either and also very sad. Rather a non-ending but also HIS (James) ending. I was left with some real misgivings about if it was a suicide myself. But can we know another's strange mindset of equivalencies as his sister held? Still, I doubt very much a suicidal action for that single shot DID occur when she was all alone in a room with a 2 year old as witness. Not the way ANY woman would have committed to it.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Better Ending
By James Whitfield Thomson

This book is a memoir – not usually the type of book I read by choice. But having read a review, I felt the need to read it.

The author grew up in Pittsburgh, the middle child, with an older brother and a younger sister. From Thomson's recounting of their childhood, it seems that those years were happy, although without much money.

Eileen, his younger sister, married Vic, her teenage sweetheart and, when he was deployed to Vietnam, she waited for him in their home in San Bernardino, CA. Jim and his brother Keith married and got on with their adult lives during those years. Since this was a period prior to the internet and cell phones, communication among family members was sporadic. Until, that is, on the night of September 11, 1974, when the family was informed that Eileen was dead – an apparent suicide.

Shocked and confused, the family accepted at face value the story Vic told them. But for Jim, as time went by, the story was incomplete and contradictory. Finally, after years of trying to ignore his reservations, Jim decided to find out the truth of what really happened to his sister.

This book is the story of his four year journey to find closure. The highs and lows of discovering clues – and having them turn into dead ends. This is a heartrending story of a dogged search in spite of all obstacles and the resolution to that search. Jim never minimizes his obsession or the strain he put on his marriage. He is not a hero – only a brother who wanted "A Better Ending". His story is one worth telling – and reading.

[Nichole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really can't decide how I feel about this book. It certainly shows what the times were like in the when it came to the attitude toward domestic violence. The amount of (implied or outright stated) "she deserved/wanted it" and apologism was truly difficult to read. The author himself also shows his age, in the nonchalant way he describes it and reacts to others telling him about it. There also seems to be a bit of an old fashioned mentality regarding women in general throughout the book - I appreciate that other women involved in the book call it out at several points. (The fact that even the author seems inclinded throughout the entire novel to give more leeway to his sister's husband, rather than her, was suprising to me). If you're looking for a true crime novel, this reads more as a memoir - while certainly the crime is a focus, I've learned much more about the author from the book than his sister, the subject of the novel. There is significantly less focus on the sister than I would expect - for example, there never is further discussion of the discrepancy between who was against adoption- likely as the author couldn't get further information, but it really does give the vibe that the book really is intended as a memior of the author's life (and family/childhood) rather than about the sister's death.

[Dell Redington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any sudden death of a twenty-seven year old woman is a shock and a tragedy. And yet, James Whitfield Thomson did not actually face it or his doubts about the cause of his sister's death until another twenty-seven years had passed!
Eileen, a year younger than her brother, had married her high school sweetheart and lived in California, far from her East Coast family. She died on a summer afternoon from a gunshot. It was ruled a suicide. Both she and her husband, a cop, were home at the time.
After her funeral, Eileen's husband told the author what happened the day she died. James believed him, until he didn't, nearly thirty years later.
This book explores the police records, interviews with police and friends who knew the couple
and endless attempts to make sense of all the new information. Truth is harder after so much time has passed.
I found this book to be a brilliant experience into a man's grief and his attempts to learn the truth about the death of a dearly loved sister.
I feel so fortunate to have read "A Better Ending: A Brother's Twenty-Year quest to Uncover the Truth About His Sister's Death" and grateful to the James Whitfield Thomson for exposing the truths he discovered as well as his grief.

[Avid Reader and Geek Girl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall Book Rating: 4.0 stars
This book follows the author’s journey to find answers to his sister's death. While you don’t get answers, that’s just life sometimes. It was still an interesting journey, and I felt true to his experience. Never sure if she killed herself or was murdered, waffling back and forth, and getting different opinions from different people.

I thought the ending was close to perfect. Overall, it was sad, but a good, ethical, true crime and memoir told from the perspective of a family member.


Narrator Rating: 3.0 stars
The narrator was okay, he did good vocal changes for different people. However, I wish there had been more emotion in his voice.


Read if you're in the mood for something: dark, emotional, sad, & medium-paced

Elements
Heartfelt- 💔 💔 💔 💔 💔
Tear-😭 & 3/4


Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent

Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Murder, Sexual harassment

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Blood, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail

[Debra Gaynor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Better Ending: A Brother’s Twenty-Year Quest to Uncover the Truth About His Sister’s Death
James Thomson
Genre: Non-Fiction/True Crime
It was 1974, James Thomson came home and found out his little sister was dead at 27 years of age, Eileen had taken her own life. Naturally, his family was shocked. Eileen and her husband were living in California. She was married to Vic her high school boyfriend/sweetheart, Vic. Eileen had been depressed. She and Vic had a fight, he stormed out of the room. A gunshot was heard within minutes, within seconds. She was dead.
In 2001, Jim had Eileen on his mind. His parents and brother were gone. Jim had questions and no answers. He wanted answers; he hired a private investigator to help him find those answers. It meant tracking down old friends. Things just didn’t add up.
This is a book about violence against women. In the 70s, unfortunately, many turned their back on it. Men believed men; women were hysterical. We have come a long way in recognizing domestic abuse. We will have come much farther when there is no abuse of any form.
I wish author Jim Thomson peace of mind.

Thank you NetGalley for the review copy.

[kylie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can understand the mixed reviews on this one, but I'll give it a go anyway.

Thomson and his siblings grew up in close quarters in Pittsburgh. With an unfortunate family history of alcoholism and violence, he finds himself reopening the wounds from his sister's death. Despite previously moving on from Eileen's death, he realizes there was some shoddy police work and several inconsistencies in his brother-in-law's story.

My gut reaction post-read is 4-5, because I was enthralled. I needed to know everything. While the ending-ending, post meeting Vic (not a spoiler, he's on his way in the first pages), was a bit lackluster, I think it was also realistic. Sometimes it just is the way it is and we don't get clean closure.

However, I agree with others that we didn't get to know Eileen well enough, and I wish we could've. She loved dogs, wanted children, and seemed like a go-getter, but what else? He said they weren't exactly close, but surely there was more to her. Ultimately, we're left with her simply as a victim, either of circumstance or direct violence. She deserved more.

**I received my copy from Netgalley.

[Faithe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Better Ending: a brother's twenty-year quest to uncover the truth about his sister's death by James Whitfield Thomson is an appropriately titled book. Throughout the years James has lost his dad, mom, brother and sister to various deaths, but his sister's death bothered him the most. Although her life wasn't perfect and she struggled with having a baby she ultimately died suddenly from a gun shot to the chest. The evidence is unclear as to if it's a suicide like her husband claims and a cover up since her husband is a cop?
The story follows her brother's twenty year quest to answer what happened to his sister. Throughout the years he is able to uncover interesting evidence and interview several people and ultimately comes to a place of peace.
A real life mystery asks the question, how far would you go to undercover the truth behind a loved ones death?

Thank you to James Whitfield and Avid Reader Press for working with NetGalley. I received an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

This book comes to stores March 25th 2025

[Barb Novak · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley, Avid Read Press / Simon & Schuster,, and James Whitfield Thomson for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In A Better Ending James Whitfield Thomson explores the 1974 death of his sister, Eileen. After nearly three decades, Thomson cannot reconcile the idea of Eileen’s death by suicide with the person he remembers. With the help of a private investigator, Thomson sets out to learn more about Eileen’s life in California, especially her marriage to her high school sweetheart turned cop, Vic.

I went into A Better Ending expecting a riveting story of true crime. In reality, Thomson’s book was more of a memoir, exploring his reactions to his sister’s death. Thomson spends a significant amount of time and money trying to know his sister without acknowledging the privilege that made this possible. Further, there is little reflection on the true difficulties of his sister’s life (depression and domestic abuse) and how women were treated in the 1970s. Ultimately, my dislike of Thomson made it difficult to enjoy this book.

[Karen Bullock · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tragic and sorrowful tale of one young woman’s untimely death and the person(s) and possible cause of death.
Written with heartfelt emotion, the author chronicles a nostalgic time of family, growing up and then eventually realizing he had no clue as to all the turmoil in his young sister’s life.
Through heavy research, a hired P.I. And a helpful paralegal, the three uncover quite a bit of hard hitting news, and reports that left more questions than answers.
Inconsistencies in filed police reports, evidence tampering and manipulation within the justice system through the “buddy police system”- the belief that all cops look out for each other.
The author’s prose makes it feel as if you’re reading a mystery vs. a memoir and a dedication to his sister, Eileen, her life and death.
Was it really suicide? Or was it a coverup?

Thanks to Simon&Schuster for this arc, I appreciate the opportunity to read and review.

[Patricia Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: Jim Thomson was my English teacher for one semester back in high school. I had encountered him when he came to a reading at the store I worked in when I was a bookseller. I loved his novel (Lies You Wanted To Hear, see my earlier review) and I was excited to learn about this new memoir. And it did not disappoint!

On a Tuesday evening I went to the book launch, where he read the Prologue and chatted with another author. When I got home I fully intended to wait until I'd read the two books I was reading for book clubs that were happening the following week before I picked it up. Well, I did finish the book club books (one of the 10 minutes before the meeting!) but not until after I had devoured A Better Ending! I couldn't put it down, except occasionally to think about a point Thomson made, or reread a beautiful sentence. This was a powerful, compelling read that left me wanting more.

Highly recommend!

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much like the title, I had wished that this book also had had A Better Ending. There was so much time that had based between when the death of Jim's sister had died and when this was written. Jim started to have doubts about his sister's "suicide" and decided to investigate. I think more than anything, this book explores grief and how people cope with it at different periods of their life.

While there were times while I was reading, that I found myself pulled strongly in one direction or another based on things that were uncovered, as said, the ending proved unsatisfying. I hope, however, that writing this book brought Jim and his family some peace and closure.

Thank you to Net Galley and also to Avid Reader Press/ Simon and Schuster for the ARC!

[Heather O'Neill · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author's sister supposedly committed suicide many years ago, but there was something about her death that always bothered him, so he decided to investigate it more. He thought that there was a chance that her sister's partner (who was a cop) had killed her and it was covered up to make it look like a suicide. I listened to the audiobook and I thought that it was well done. There are many concerning things about his sister's death that would make anyone question what really happened. I just wished that they questioned this when it happened and not many years later when it was to late to do anything. It was a good reflective book to ponder choices people make and secrets they keep and how it's really hard to figure out what was factual.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a hard book to read at times, mainly because of the many tragedies that befell Thomson's family, as well as the shoddy police work that led to the confusion and questions that plagued Jim for years. I thought it was extremely brave of him to open that Pandora's Box and begin looking into his sister's death with little more than a letter she had written and the 27-year-old word of his ex-brother-in-law to go on. I admire him for sticking with it, knowing full well it may not end with the outcome he wanted, or any sort of definitive outcome at all. His meticulous journal writing helped with the veracity of the details of his investigation and I am glad he was able to find some closure at the end of it all.

[Valerity (Val) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very relatable to me, being about the loss of a close sibling and how it eats at you as the years, then decades go by. Author Jim Thomson realized 27 years after losing his sister that he couldn't live with the story he'd been told about what happened. So he started digging into it, trying to find the truth of Eileen's death, whether it was really a suicide, or if her cop husband killed her. Jim was on a mission, a quest to get the real truth, despite destroyed evidence and shoddy police work. The passage of time didn't help matters either. But he had to persist. I liked his writing style in this book and hope he does more non-fiction.

[David K · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is more than a story about one man's desire to fully understand the circumstances around his sister's death. It is a a frank and very personal account of the emotions and motivations of the author, his family, his sister's husband, and the many people who helped him in his quest. It is a story about dealing with tragedy (and not dealing with it).

Multiple times I set the book aside to contemplate the tragedies that have occurred in my own life and the "interesting" ways people dealt with them and how I dealt with them myself. For me this was a very thought provoking and satisfying read.

[Jessica Treadway · Rating 5 out of 5]

In A Better Ending, Jim Thomson takes us on a trip no one could envy, as he tries to “solve” the mystery of his sister’s apparent suicide. By the end of the book I felt that I knew his sister Eileen, and I wished as the author does that there could be a definitive answer about the way she died, instead of the myriad questions Thomson encounters as he interviews Eileen’s friends, co-workers, family members, and police officers who worked with Eileen’s husband, a cop who said he was in the next room when she shot herself. This is an exquisite, poignant, and ultimately graceful exploration of a brother’s loss and his love for the sister who left too soon.

[Christa Abend · Rating 5 out of 5]

How many writers could muster the courage to strip off twenty years of familial denial and personal wishful thinking about their little sister's apparent suicide, inevitably exposing their own flaws? Very few, but self-flattery is not James Thomson's game. Finding and confronting the truth (if possible, in such a cold case) was the mission that nearly consumed him. Thomson tips his authorial hat to Raymond Chandler for good reason: this memoir has many of the elements of a top-notch detective story--suspense, reversals, reveals, and, not least, a real life, hard-boiled, heart-of-gold detective as Thomson's partner and guide. Irresistible.

[Philip Hitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Better Ending by James W. Thomson grabs you from the opening paragraph to the last acknowledgement. This is not only a true story of years of investigation by Thomson into the supposed suicide of his sister, but also a fascinating insight in the author's investigation into himself. I was astonished by Thomson's honesty about his own frailties and his openness to share them with the world at large. If there was anything good that came out of a tragic suicide of a beloved sister, it was the human growth in Thomson that was fueled by his excruciating investigation into his sister's death. Read the very last words of the book in his eloquent and loving tribute to his wife who I believe is the unsung hero of this story.