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This second adult novel from Sophie McKenzie explores trust and fidelity within a pacey domestic suspense.

When Livy finds her best friend dead from an overdose her world is shattered. Initially drawn together by grief over the murder of her sister Kara, Livy has been friends with Julia since they were teenagers. Julia is a single career journalist while Livy is a stay-at-home wife and mother, yet their friendship has been Livy’s rock through betrayal and marital discord, and she is aghast that family and friends are so accepting of the verdict of suicide. The vibrant woman Livy knew would never take her own life. Meek Livy defies everyone, including her husband, to pursue the truth of Julia’s death, but what she finds makes her question the very foundation on which her life is based—that Julia confided everything to her and that her husband can be trusted. As Livy stumbles onto the trail of Julia’s last days she gets closer to a truth that will take her back to her sister’s murder and put her family in danger.

Trust in Me is a wonderful exploration of trust and fidelity and as a story of a marriage it works well, so well that the central story question of who killed Julia and why becomes subsumed by the domestic dramas. The pace is good, the writing solid. Julia’s Dorothy Parker-esque quips, as remembered by Livy, hint at a rich character we only glimpse. The supporting cast are all rather selfish and self-serving and Julia’s mysterious and previously unknown fiancé seems a little too good to be true. The shallowness of those in Livy’s life also make it hard to care about any of them and there were times when Livy’s naiveté and left-field conclusions irritated me. Yet all the characters are used to good effect to raise suspicion, isolate Livy and make her question who she should trust. And trust, as the title suggests, is at the heart of this story.

Overall, this is a solid suspense with an everyday heroine doing her best to solve her friend’s mysterious death.