My Perfect Husband 

By Georgina Cross  

Bookouture, 2025  

Trade paper: $10.99 

Genre: Psychological thriller 

Reviewed by Lisa Harrison  

 

Cover of "My Perfect Husband." Cover shows image of a couple sitting on a bed facing away from each other.
With her newest release, My Perfect Husband, Georgina Cross cements her place as a must-read emerging new author of psychological thrillers. With the tag line “My sister is dead. Did I marry her killer?” Cross crafts a mesmerizing literary bolero, gradually increasing the pace, details, and clues. The mystery begins amid the quotidian details of a happily married couple’s charming life in a cozy college town neighborhood.   

Lauren and Alex Capshaw are young partners enjoying a marriage founded on mutual support and respect. They met at a grief support group where they discovered that each was dealing with the mysterious disappearance of a sibling: Lauren’s sister Ellie and Alex’s brother Clive. Ellie’s missing person case of twelve years duration suddenly escalates with the discovery of her body during the demolition of a dilapidated New Orleans historic home. Along with her remains, police find photos of Ellie and two men – Alex and his brother. Alex has always expressed regret that he never met Ellie, but the images reveal his deception. What else might he be hiding? Did he know the connection between Lauren and Ellie when they met? Wary of his trustworthiness, Lauren informs him she will travel alone to New Orleans to meet with the police detective, while he makes a similar solo trip to the Crescent City. Once in her hostel, Lauren begins to retrace the events of the fateful weekend that her sister went missing, haunted by the suspicion that her husband might be stalking her.    

The cast of characters rapidly expands to include Ellie’s roommate, landlords, and co-workers. As possible witnesses multiply, questions proliferate. Who saw what and when? Who might know more than they have said? Why were Alex and Clive there at all, and why has Alex never mentioned this? What was Ellie doing at the abandoned building where her body was finally found? Cross explores these questions, with some surprising twists thrown into the mix.  In a parallel mystery, Cross interweaves flashbacks to a disturbing event from Lauren and Ellie’s childhood. Is this just part of the girls’ emotional backstory, or does it have more relevance? As the gripping psychological arc unfolds, threads from past and present intertwine to weave a compelling narrative.  

Literary, tightly plotted, enhanced with well-observed depictions of the narrator’s thought processes and an evocatively described sense of place, My Perfect Husband is worth a re-read for the pleasure of seeing how Cross so well prepares each twist throughout the text, even in the early scenes. A bit of karma, or Jungian shadow, is at play in the notion that potentially dangerous character traits that manifest early in life but are not managed or appropriately integrated can lead to unintended consequences later.  The conclusion proves unexpected yet appropriate.   

My Perfect Husband will appeal to fans of cozy mysteries, psychological thrillers, and New Orleans settings. Georgina Cross is an Amazon charts bestselling author, and her work should be promoted by bookstores and collected by libraries. She deserves wide readership.     

Lisa Harrison is an avid reader who spent 15 years in the book publishing industry. When not curled up with a cup of tea, a book, and a rescued cat or two (or more), she enjoys all varieties of needle crafts.