THE WHY

She asked the dispatcher to note the time. Forty-one minutes later, the questions began.

When Saylor Dean calls 911 to report that she has shot her boyfriend, Parker Moss, she insists it was self-defence. Her voice is calm. Her answers are precise. And she has one unusual request: make sure the time is recorded.

But something about the call doesn't add up.

Why did she wait forty-one minutes before calling the police? Why was the gun placed so carefully on the piano? And what happened to Parker's missing phone?

Six years after Saylor's conviction for first-degree murder, a legal error overturns the verdict and sends the case back to trial. The retrial could finally reveal the truth. But the deeper the investigation goes, the more complicated the story becomes.

Ellen Marchand, an experienced investigative television producer, has built her career on understanding people and exposing the stories behind their carefully constructed public faces. Now she finds herself drawn into an extraordinary correspondence with Saylor, a woman whose intelligence, charm and unnerving composure make her almost impossible to understand.

As Ellen investigates the dead man's past, follows the trail of a missing phone and uncovers the secrets surrounding the night of the shooting, she begins to question not only what happened, but what she has been looking at all along.

Because the most important evidence may not be what someone says.

It may be what they leave unsaid.

THE WHY is a gripping psychological crime thriller about deception, loyalty, family, and the dangerous distance between knowing what happened and understanding why.

Perfect for readers who enjoy intricate mysteries, morally complex characters, courtroom suspense and twists that make you reconsider everything.