A Whole New Life

by Betsy Thornton

One August evening in a southern Arizona town a sheriff's deputy comes to Jackson Williams's door to tell him that his wife has died in a car crash. The deputy questions him while the police search his house and confiscate his computer. His amazement turns to disbelief when they arrest him. Williams suddenly has a whole new life, all right, but not the one he sometimes dreamt of when he admitted to himself that his marriage was a mistake. Now he is a man lost, in prison, awaiting trial for his wife's murder.
He is not without friends, however. Ruth Norton, his next-door neighbor, convinces a locally famous lawyer to take on his case.
Mara, Jackson's grown daughter from a previous marriage, happens upon the crisis unknowingly when she arrives in town to seek out the father she never knew as she was growing up.
Finally, there is Tyler, Ruth's eleven-year-old son. The others aren't aware of what he can contribute to finding the real killer---but is the murderer?
Although Thornton introduces a new group of characters to her readers, they live in the same mountains and desert in which we met and loved the Victim's Advocate, Chloe Newcombe. Readers will be cheering for all these new friends as they do their best to clear Jackson's name---often at peril to themselves.

Genres: Mystery

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Aka Beth Thornton.

Betsy Thornton is a contemporary American writer of mystery fiction novels set in the Southwestern United States.

Reviews

[Chuck Neumann]

"Whole New Life" was an interesting book, but not really a mystery. It started out as a mystery, and was pretty good most of the way, but the ending of the mystery of who killed Jenny Williams and later another character was quite disappointing. But it was really more of a character study than a mystery anyway, and the characters were different and seldom what I expected. The victim's husband, who is arrested for the murder, is a nice enough guy but rather cold and remote. His attitude may have driven his wife to an affair, which appeared to be a reason for her death. The late wife appears to be a bad person, but we discover that there were reasons behind her actions. The next door neighbor, a single mother (her husband turns out to be gay after three children) is the one person who believes the husband is innocent. We suspect they had an affair, but it is just friendship. No one in the story appears to be happy at the end. The husband is free, but seems more depressed than when he was in jail. The neighbor may have found love with the private investigator but is worried because he is a recovering alcoholic. The lawyer is unhappy because he will not be able to recover his reputation at the trial. One interesting note, everyone in the story who was ever married is divorced. Even the minor characters, such as the D.A., make a point of mentioning they are divorced. I liked the novel, but the ending of the murder mystery - SPOILER ALERT - the killer turns out to be a mad hermit who turns out to be Jenny's long lost brother who molested her as a child - so disappointed me that the best I can give it was a 3.

[Carolyn]

3.5 Ok, it was a little dorky but I enjoyed the characters enough to give it a 3.5 star rating. Very old copyright but then I like old novels. The characters were a bit contrived and comic book-ish but I enjoyed most of the characters and there was enough humor to keep me reading. I read a Reader's Digest Condensed version so I might not have enjoyed it if it was any longer - I'll never know. :)

[Roberta]

This is a stand-alone murder mystery that takes place in Dudley, AZ (aka Bisbee). It was SO much better than her first Chloe Newcombe novel, also set in Dudley. Really captured the feel and description of the town and its inhabitants. I'm sending this one to my sister to read.

[Swhe641200]

5.2018. Ok read

[Donna]

I read a Readers Digest condensed version......I'm not sure if that helped or harmed. It was okay.

[Virginia Haas]

Has a nice twist to it.

[Johnmarilyn Rivera]

Interesting & strange book! All the main characters' lives are intertwined in odd/creepy ways. Definitely thought provoking.

[Aubrey]

I started out really liking this book, then in the end I wish I had spent my time on something else. It started out as a good mystery and ended as a tale of abuse, infidelity and deceit. I was a little disturbed thinking about it afterwards.

[Glenda L]

This was an OK book for me ... I thought it started slowly and a bit confusing. A husband is jailed for the murder of his wife, while an unusual group of characters did whatever they had to to prove his innocence. It was a fairly entertaining read.

[Kyle]

I almost gave this two stars because I thought the ending was wrapped up really dumb in the end. Kind of a cheap gimmicky ending that I really didn't like. I liked the character development earlier in the book though so it wasn't a waste of time by any means.

[Betsy Ehlers]

Not just a mystery, but a novel!

[Letty Seidl]

It was a fast read and I'm glad for it because it wasn't a very good book. It started out it good but ended poorly. Not worth wasting your time reading this one.

[Tom]

Entertaining read set in the southwest, complete with crazy brothers, daughters not seen, and agape in place of eros.

[Emma]

I thought this book was well written and interesting. Looking forward to reading all the books in this series

[Cathie]

Loved it! Particularly the final twist at the very, very end.

[Mom]

Reader's Digest Condensed Book

[Sandy]

Interesting because I am in Bisbee currently. (The town of Dudley in the book is Bisbee, Arizona.) Knowing the places that were described in the book and reading about then was what I really liked in this book.