Anatomy of an Alibi by Ashley Elston
Read by MacLeod Andrews, Saskia Maarveveld, Amanda Stribling and Dan Bittner
Published: January 2026
Summary from Goodreads:
Everyone at Chantilly’s Bar noticed out-of-towner Camille Bayliss. Red lips, designer heels, sipping a Negroni. But that woman wasn’t Camille Bayliss. It was Aubrey Price.
Camille Bayliss appears to have the picture-perfect life; she’s married to hotshot lawyer Ben and is the daughter of a wealthy Louisiana family. Only nothing is as it seems: Camille believes Ben has been hiding dirty secrets for years, but she can’t find proof because he tracks her every move.
Aubrey Price has been haunted by the terrible night that changed her life a decade ago, and she’s convinced Benjamin Bayliss knows something about it. Living in a house full of criminals, Aubrey understands there’s more than one way to get to the truth—and she may have found the best way in.
Aubrey and Camille hatch a plan. It sounds simple: For twelve hours, Aubrey will take Camille’s place. Camille will spy on Ben, and the two women will get the answers they desperately seek.
Except the next morning, Ben is found murdered. Both women need an airtight alibi, but only one of them has it. And one false step is all it takes for everything to come undone.
Confession:
I think Ashley Elston is quickly becoming one of my favorite mystery thriller writers. Her books are always exactly what I crave in this genre, fast paced, lots of suspects, twists I never see coming and interesting and somewhat morally gray characters. I also enjoyed the legal intrigue, the domestic tension and the found family vibe of Aubrey’s housemates.
This particular tale is told through four points of view and each one is narrated by a different reader. Saskia A Maarleveld does a great job as Camille, her voice and emotions matched this character perfectly. MacLeod Andrews also is marvelous as Hank, I just love his deep voice. Dan Bittner also has a great voice for Ben, who we don’t hear from as much as I would have liked. And finally Amanda Stribling does an excellent job with giving voice to Amanda. All of these narrators are excellent and a couple of them are on the top of my list of favorite narrators.
This story is told through the points of view of the four main characters. There are many secondary characters, some of who are also suspects, but many are also have important roles to play. There are also two timelines. Camille, Hank and Aubrey tell the part of the story that is in the present, starting a few weeks before Ben’s murder, and then the days following. Ben is the narrator for the past and the accident that killed Aubrey’s parents. The present chapters skip around a little bit, but as long as you pay attention to the chapters headings, you shouldn’t get too lost.
You get to know the four main characters pretty well, but character development is not the main focus of this story. I did like all of the characters and totally understood where they were all coming from. I think I liked Hank and Aubrey the best as they both were good people who had some unlucky things happen to them. Camille and Ben were a bit harder to like, but I totally understood why they did what they did because of their backgrounds.
There really are three mysteries intertwined into the plot. Who killed Ben, who was responsible for Aubrey’s parent’s accident, and there is some missing evidence that everyone is looking for. There is a long list of suspects for all three of these mysteries, and while the final reveal was not quite expected, it all made sense. The twists and turns and red herrings are well thought out and really make you think about everything. The pacing was great and it made it really hard to put this one down.
If you like your mystery thrillers to be a smart compelling puzzle of a story that will keep you guessing until the end, this is one you don’t want to miss.
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