False Pretenses

by Catherine Coulter

On trial for her husband's murder, young Elizabeth Carleton is acquitted based on the testimony of a surprise witness that gives her an alibi. The problem? Elizabeth had never seen nor heard of the man until he appeared on the stand. At odds with her husband's wealthy family, Elizabeth strives to run his financial empire. As a trio of men move in and out of her life, Elizabeth must determine who she can trust and who is out to get her.

This book left some huge holes. At the beginning, Elizabeth is a scared, wimpy widow on trial for murder. Once she is acquitted, she runs off to Paris to lick her wounds and recover. There she meets a man who helps her get over this trauma. When she finds out he is working for her in-laws, all of a sudden, she morphs into Super-Business woman. She suddenly knows everything about business and sets out to destroy everyone that stands in her way. And even some that don't. Apparently, she just wants to destroy them for fun.

I didn't care much for this book. I liked Elizabeth a lot in the beginning and by the middle, I was hoping someone would come along and kill her. Unfortunately, no one did. Then I was left trying to figure out how a perfectly nice guy fell in love with her and made her change back into a likeable character.