Readers Guide for Anatomy of an Alibi

October 10

Aubrey is drinking in a bar called Chantilly’s, chatting up the guy next to her. Aubrey’shusband, Ben, a is lawyer who spends all his time at work. The guy she’s talking to says he knows everyone at the bar and she tests him. 

Aubrey heads to a gas station where she takes off her dress, heels and wig and changes to casual clothes. A woman named Camille shows up and tells Aubrey she didn’t find anything. Aubrey gives Camille back her clothes and rings.

Camille is Ben’s real wife, and Ben has a secret that affects both Camille and Aubrey. Aubrey was posing as Camille so that Camille could look for evidence.

Sunday October 11

Hank races to Camille’s house. She’s sitting on the front steps and says Ben is dead inside the house.  She’s called 911 and the police arrive. 

Detective Sullivan agrees to give Ben’s client files to Hank, his law partner. Camille tells the police that she was out of town, while Ben and Hank were in New Orleans at a legal seminar. 

October 10

Camille drives back to Baton Rouge in a car she bought for cash. Camille began to feel that Ben was doing something shady. She started searching the house.

She and Ben were from the same small town, though her family was rich and his was not.  Once Ben wanted to start a family, she knew she had to get out. Camille needs to find some wrongdoing by Ben to break her pre-up. 

September 3

One night Hank brings a drunken Ben home. Camille notices his briefcase is unlocked, which is unusual She opens it and finds a bar napkin with a woman’s name (Aubrey Price) and a phone number.

September 9

Aubrey’s working at Doug’s when a woman comes in and asks Aubrey if she’s sleeping with her husband. Aubrey insists she’s never heard of Ben, but when she learns he’s a lawyer she asks Camille if this has anything to do with Paul Granger.

October 11

Hank brings Ben’s files back to their office. He discovers Ben wanted to dissolve their law partnership.

October 10

Aubrey is dressed up as Camille. She meets Shane and they copy Camille’s car key.

Meanwhile, Camille plants cameras all over her house, then hides in the attic to watch. Ben comes home and then a guy in a red Mustang shows up. Ben calls him Eddie and they drive off. Then a guy in a truck comes and is able to open her garage door. Ben and Eddie get back and they all seem to know each other. Ben calls the new guy Shane and pays him for the car. After they leave, Ben plugs in a flash drive.

Aubrey goes to the prison to talk to Paul Granger, who was convicted of killing Aubrey’s parents. 

September 12

Camille is at a charity gala with Ben and her family.  Camille talks to her father about Paul Granger, who went to prison for a hit and run accident. Ben has to go on a work trip with Hank and offers to book a weekend away for Camille. 

October 12

Detective Sullivan arrives at Hank’s office to ask him if he knows why Ben ordered a replacement key for a gun safe shortly before he died. After Sullivan leaves, Hank looks at the file Ben was working on before he died: Paul Granger’s. Hank recalls meeting with Paul but Ben said they could not take the case. 

September 15

Deacon tells Aubrey that Ben is bribes judges and intimidates witnesses. Chris and Deacon have someone spying on Ben, a PI whose gambling debt they paid off. They wonder if Ben, who grew up with Paul, was in the car with him during the hit and run. 

October 10

Through her hidden camera, Camille watches Ben watching a video of Aubrey asking Detective Walton to review Paul’s case. Walton says Paul ran off like a coward and Aubrey’s father might have been saved if he’d called 911. Ben calls his PI and says he is driving to Corbeau to get something out of a gun safe at Kevin Foster’s house. Foster is a associate of Camille’s father. Then Margaret, her sister in law, shows up.

September 28

Aubrey also figures out the plan to break into Kevin Foster’s gun safe. She tracks down Camille and tells her that she knows both Ben and Camille’s father are shady. She tells Camille that Ben killed her parents. Paul is innocent. Aubrey has a plan to put cameras in the house and swap places with Camille. 

October 13

Hank tells her the police want to interview her. Then one of Ben’s clients shows up: Pete Sanders. Hank finds his file with handwritten notes by Ben: plans to intimidate witnesses. Pete tells Hank that he better make the case go away.

October 10

Back at the prison, Paul tells Aubrey there is security camera footage showing that he was not driving the car that hit her parents. Now it’s time to pretend to be Camille.

Camille watches Margaret telling Ben she’s worried about her husband Silas. He has someone watching Aubrey and her neighbors. Silas was the one who drove the cat that hit Aubrey’s parents. Camille’s father paid Ben to cover for Silas. Ben is tired of helping Randall’s friends stay out of prison. She can hear Ben opening the garage door, so she runs downstairs and starts removing the cameras. But Ben shows up.

Ten years ago

Margaret and Silas arrive at Ben’s house and wake him up. They are bloody and Silas is confused. They were at a party at Paul Granger’s, took his truck for a joyride and hit another car. Ben insists on calling Randall.  Randall tells Ben to alibi Silas, and he will help Ben’s mom with her financial problems. 

October 13

Hank learns that Kevin Foster was the chief of police of Corbeau and the only person on the Paul Granger case. Hank is trying to learn who “chief” is in Ben’s notes.

At the service for Ben, Aubrey tells Camille she’s freaking out. Camille denies killing Ben and says that Ben knew Aubrey was impersonating her. Aubrey demands to see the video that Paul told her about.

Aubrey recognizes someone in the receiving line: a man who asked her to dance at Chantilly’s. The one who says he knows everyone in the place. Aubrey fills in Deacon and Eddie and they figure out who the guy in the bar was: Silas.

October 10

Silas tells Camille what happened with the accident ten years ago. Paul told Hank that someone has footage of the proving that Paul wasn’t driving. (That person would be KevinFoster, who was now terminally ill, found God and wants to come clean.) Foster considered giving the footage to Aubrey. Camille decides to ask for a divorce.

October 14

At her interview, Camille tells the police she met her brother at Chantilly’s for a drink. The police reveal that Ben was stabbed with a custom knife Camille had made for him.

Aubrey realizes she has no alibi for the time of Paul’s murder, as she was pretending to be Camille. Deacon helps her destroy her computer and takes her to visit her parents’ graves.

Silas confirmed Camille’s alibi for Saturday from ten to midnight. But the police reveal that Ben was killed between six and eight pm. After they leave Hank’s office, Silas tells Camille that Kevin Foster had evidence against their father and Ben. Camille reveals that she thinks that evidence was in Kevin’s gun safe.

October 15

At the police station, Hank picks up Ben’s personal items, which include keys. Sullivan says that someone sent a picture of Camille to Ben’s phone on Saturday. Hank immediately realizes that the picture is not Camille.

Detective Sullivan also knows 1) that Ben was looking at a file on Aubrey before he died, 2) that Aubrey lives with the men who were restoring the Mustang for Ben, and 3) that Aubrey’s parents were killed in Ben’s hometown.

Hank heads to the bar where Aubrey works. She’s evasive and Deacon threatens him.

October 16

Aubrey finds a bloody knife in her bedroom drawer, and Eddie and Shane help her hide it in the oil pan in their garage. They tell her if someone is framing her, the cops will show up, which they do.  Deacon calls Hank, who comes over and sees the gifts that Paul Granger sent Aubrey. Deacon quietly reminds Paul that Aubrey’s safety is tied up with Camille’s.

Ten Years Ago

Silas tells Ben they are all now under his father’s thumb forever. Ben goes to check on Margaret. They agree to stick together. 

October 17

Silas takes Camille back to her house for the first time after Ben’s death. They sneak into Kevin Foster’s house, but his gun safe is empty. Deacon is there with a gun and explains that he the knew they were coming because they put a tracker on Camille’s car. If Kevin Foster sent the evidence to Aubrey, where is it?

October 18

Hank tells Camille that the police searched the house of Aubrey Price looking for Ben’s knife. They arrange to meet, but before that he goes to a prison rodeo to talk to Paul, who is there selling his leatherwork. Paul confirms that there is a video that could help his case, but says that he did not send Aubrey a jewelry box and typed letter. (I guess he sold it to Paul, though?) And it has a secret compartment.

October 18

Hank calls and asks Aubrey to check her jewelry box. She finds a USB drive hidden in there. Frank (the boyfriend of Aubrey’s housemate Serenity) offers to play it on his computer, but steals it and runs off.

Frank works for Silas and brings him the USB. They watch the footage and learn that Margaret was driving the car. Silas leaves to confront Margaret, but Margaret shows up at Camille’s house and attacks her.

Hank finds Camille bleeding from a head wound. Silas shows up with Frank and they drive Camille to a doctor. Silas says that Margaret is missing.

Somewhat Scott gets Hank a list of all the people who were at the party the night Aubrey’s parents were killed.

Ten Years Ago

Chief Foster arrives to get Ben’s statement on the night of the party. They want Ben to attest that he picked up Silas from Pauls’ house and drive him to Baton Rouge. With Chief Foster is his nephew, Nathan Sullivan.

October 19

Detective Sullivan shows up at Aubrey’s asking for the USB. He tells Aubrey that Camille is hurt and Margaret is missing. Aubrey accuses Sullivan of planting the knife. Sullivan starts to strangle Aubrey. Deacon saves her, there’s a struggle, and Sullivan is shot. Hank tipped off Deacon after he realized Sullivan was Kevin Foster’s nephew.

The Ending of Anatomy of an Alibi Explained!

If Kevin Foster wanted to come clean, that implicated Sullivan. They  contemplate planting the knife at Sullivan’s house and framing him for killing Aubrey’s parents. Aubrey doesn’t like the idea of Margaret getting off.

Hank comes over and Silas explain the plan to frame Sullivan for everything, including Margaret’s hit and run. They will also force Everett to step back and let Silas run things. Camille doesn’t like the idea of Ben coming off as a hero. 

October 22

Hank comes into the bar to talk to Deacon. He says Paul will be let out of prison. Margaret is drinking too much and he worries about her getting behind the wheel of a car. Then he gets a call that Margaret was in a fatal accident. And Aubrey and Deacon are her alibi.

Questions You Might Have About the Book

What Was in the Gun Safe and Why?

Kevin Foster was the police chief of Corbeau, where Camille, Paul, Silas, and Ben grew up. He was Randall Everett’s henchman and apparently kept lots of evidence of all he was asked to do, perhaps as an insurance policy. When Kevin got seriously ill, he found God and wanted to come clean. This endangered all the people below:

Who Were All The People Who Wanted to Get Into the Gun Safe?

• Ben, because (I think) he provided a fake alibi for Silas for the hit and run.
• Randall Everett, but maybe Ben is working on his behalf.
• Margaret, but again, we don’t get her POV or know much about what she’s up to. Angi in comments points out that Kevin Foster probably kept a copy of the footage he sent to Aubrey. But how did Margaret know it was there?
• Nathan Sullivan, because he was his Uncle Kevin’s right hand man.

Did Someone Empty the Gun Safe?

Kevin Foster sent the gas station crash footage to Aubrey in the jewelry box. Was that all that was in there?

Were there Two Flash Drives in Anatomy of an Alibi?

I was confused about this, and if you can help me out, that would be great. Angi in comments agrees with me that there must have been two:

Flash drive one: The police told Hank and Camille that Ben ordered a replacement key for a gun safe. Ben tells his PI that he needs to get something out of a gun safe. But before that, Camille also sees Ben watching a flash drive of Aubrey asking a detective to review her parents’ case.

Flash drive two: the one that Kevin Wilson sent to Aubrey hidden in the jewelry box. That one (I think) has the security footage showing that Margaret was driving the hit-and-run car.

Why (and how) did Silas Kill Margaret?

This is all pretty unclear. It’s an interesting twist (and I love that Silas gave himself an alibi, which is a nice wink to the title). Did he tamper with her car?

Other Things I Was Confused About:

If Kevin was working with Everett and Ben, why did Kevin keep the secret about the person who actually killed Margaret’s parents: Margaret?

Did Ben ever make it to the gun safe? He says he’s going, and then he’s dead. Maybe?

Was Kevin the only one who knew that Margaret was the hit-and-run driver? Did Nathan Sullivan know?