Albert Corne

The Assassin's Wife Albert Corne

In the 1960s, Casey Lancon, a former New Orleans policewoman and now a successful detective in Lafayette, Louisiana, is retained to investigate a recent murder in Baton Rouge, while Bobby, her husband and a history professor at the local university, has befriended Rose Derouselle Chauvin, the wife of the man accused of assassinating a prominent politician in the halls of the state capitol during the turbulent 1930s. When Rose asks Casey if she would look into the assassination as well, Casey tells her she'll do if and when she has the time but quickly discovers that the two murders are in fact closely tied to each other, and assisted by close friends, associates, and even strangers, Casey begins to unravel inconsistencies in the historical account while dealing with fantasy and madness as well as intentional misdirection and occasional outright lies, much of it provided by Rose herself. Forced by obligations to abandon their cottage in the university section as well as cherished visits to their houseboat in the great Atchafalaya Basin, Casey begins doggedly investigating both murders, and despite Rose's incessant interference and manipulation, Casey manages to forge a strong and cherished friendship with the woman known to history as the assassin's wife. The characters closely reflect the mixed French heritage of south Louisiana, the area now known as Acadiana-Bobby Lancon, Jean Claude Bourgeois, and Jimmy Melancon, Cajun swampers; Casey Lancon, Amos Allen, and Gerri Breaux, transplanted Cajun detectives; Tre, Bobby and Casey's Cajun son; and Susan DeVillier, Rose Chauvin, and Joey Davenport, descendants of French aristocrats who fled the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror and settled in Louisiana