The Baker's Wife

by Erin Healy

Before Audrey was the baker's wife, she was the pastor's wife.

Then a scandalous lie cost her husband a pastoral career. Now the two work side-by-side running a bakery, serving coffee, and baking fresh bread. But the hurt still pulls at Audrey.

Driving early one morning to the bakery, Audrey's car strikes something—or someone—at a fog-shrouded intersection. She finds a motor scooter belonging to a local teacher. Blood is everywhere, but there's no trace of a body.

Both the scooter and the blood belong to detective Jack Mansfield's wife, and he's certain that Audrey is behind Julie's disappearance.

But the case dead-ends and the detective spirals into madness. When he takes her family and some patrons hostage at the bakery, Audrey is left with a soul-damaged ex-con and a cynical teen to solve the mystery. And she'll never manage that unless she taps into something she would rather leave behind—her excruciating ability to feel other's pain.

• ISBN10: 1595547525
• ISBN13: 9781595547521
• Publish Date: 3 October 2011
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Thomas Nelson Publishers
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[kimbacaffeinate]

The Baker’s Wife is a suspenseful thriller steeped in religious overtones. What started off slowly quickly turned into a gripping mystery. I really enjoyed this novel of good verse evil.

Protagonist, Audrey Bofinger, works to heal the wounds of her family and community. With her husband, ex-pastor Geoff, they open a bakery. She is blessed with a gift, or curse, to recognize when others need her help. One foggy morning, on the way into the bakery, she hits a scooter. The scooter is destroyed and the scene is covered in blood - too much blood, for anyone to have survived. The scooter belongs to Julia, the wife of police sergeant Jack Mansfield. When a body can’t be found and Julia is missing, suspicion soon turns to foul play. To make matters worse, Jack Mansfield is the man responsible for having Pastor Bofinger fired from the church and banned from preaching. When evidence isn’t sufficient, Jack decides to take matters into his own hands.

Healy beautifully and skillfully weaves a tale of intrigue, while carefully telling the story of each character. She has you second guessing as she feeds you pieces of the puzzle. Aside from being a suspenseful mystery, The Baker’s Wife deals with faith, compassion, judgment and man’s own flaws. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer