My Lovely Wife (2019) is a thriller novel by Samantha Downing. The novel is narrated by an unnamed father of two teenagers who, along with his wife Millicent, plans a series of murders and pins them on Owen, a local serial killer from decades past. Although the couple begins their criminal activities together, over time, the secrets they have kept from each other begin to surface, threatening their own safety as well as their children’s. My Lovely Wife was Downing’s debut novel, and it won the Edgar, ITW, and Macavity awards in the US, the CWA award in the UK, and the Prix des Lectrices award in France. Downing has published three more best-selling novels and a novella.

This guide refers to the paperback edition published by Penguin Books in 2019.

Content Warning: My Lovely Wife and this guide mention violence, murder, death by suicide, and infidelity.

Plot Summary

An unnamed father narrates the novel. He gives private tennis lessons and his wife, Millicent, is a real estate agent. Their children are Rory, 14, and Jenna, 13.

In a bar, he meets a woman named Petra and pretends to be a deaf accountant named Tobias. He is scoping out whether or not she would be a good person for him and his wife, Millicent, to murder. Instead, he sleeps with Petra and does not tell Millicent. After eliminating Petra as an option, the couple focuses on Naomi, another stranger, and the narrator stalks her to determine if she is “right.” On the news, police announce that they have discovered the body of Lindsay, a woman the narrator and Millicent kidnapped about a year previously. The narrator also slept with Lindsay, but Millicent does not know that. The night they were going to kill her, Jenna got sick, so the narrator left to care for her while Millicent finished the murder alone. The body is found in a different location from where they agreed to kill and bury her. Also, she has only been dead a few weeks, meaning Millicent kept her alive and tortured her for nearly a year, unbeknownst to the narrator.

Growing up in the same gated community where he now lives with Millicent, the narrator felt like his parents were cold and distant. In his early twenties, he took a trip abroad, and they died in a car crash. He met Millicent upon returning from the trip and found a new purpose in trying to please her. She has also been a good co-parent and mother, implementing several positive rules and routines for the kids. The narrator has trouble reconciling these facts with her murderous tendencies. Rory catches his father sneaking out and cheating on his mom and begins blackmailing him. Millicent wants to start pinning their murders on Owen Oliver Riley, a serial killer who was active decades ago in their community and vanished after being released from prison on a technicality.

The narrator recalls the backstory of the first two murders he committed with Millicent. Millicent had a sister, Holly, who had been in a mental health facility since age 15 due to constant attempts to harm or kill Millicent. After being released, Holly started stalking the family, then broke into their house and lunged at Millicent, at which point the narrator instinctively killed her with a nearby tennis racket. Robin, a coworker of Holly’s, came to their house demanding money for her silence, so Millicent killed her. Nobody seemed to notice these two murders and the couple did not get caught for either.

The narrator does not think Naomi is a suitable option, so he starts stalking a parking meter attendant named Annabelle instead. After going on a date with her as “Tobias,” and learning that her ex-boyfriend was killed by a driver who was intoxicated, the narrator decides against Annabelle and switches back to Naomi. He also writes letters from “Owen” to a local newscaster, Josh, to convince the public that Owen is back, that he is responsible for Lindsay’s murder, and that he is about to kidnap another woman. A friend of the narrator and Millicent’s, Trista, reveals to the narrator that she once dated Owen and is still in love with him. Panic ensues throughout the community as people anticipate Owen committing more murders. Millicent kidnaps Naomi and takes her to an undisclosed location. Jenna develops an anxiety disorder and starts bringing weapons to school. Trista leaves her husband, Andy, then dies by suicide. The public finds out that Naomi slept with some guests at the hotel where she works, and they start treating her differently.

The narrator puts a GPS tracker on Millicent’s car, but she does not drive anywhere that she could hide torture victims for months. The only uncharacteristic place she goes is a deli, which is odd because she usually does not eat non-organic food. The narrator checks out the deli, but it does not seem like a place where she could perpetrate torture. On the news, new women claim to have been attacked by Owen, which exacerbates Jenna’s condition. She cuts her hair off to be less appealing to serial killers and attacks a boy at her Krav Maga class. The narrator decides it is time to stop this Owen scheme. Millicent kills Naomi and the narrator writes a letter from “Owen” to the news, claiming to be leaving town again. The narrator removes the tracker from Millicent’s car and looks forward to being done with murder.

On the news, Owen’s sister announces that Owen has been dead for years and could not have committed these recent murders. The owner of Millicent’s deli, Denise, is the one who told Owen’s sister that Owen was being blamed for the murders. This makes Jenna even more afraid because it means the killer could be anyone. The police discover a torture chamber in a church basement, which is where the killer kept Naomi and Lindsay. Additional bodies are found beneath the church. Millicent claims not to know anything about this. There is also a message in Naomi’s blood that says “Tobias. Deaf,” even though Naomi never met “Tobias.” The narrator realizes Millicent has framed him for the murders of Naomi and Lindsay, along with the other three women buried beneath the church. She does this to get revenge on him for cheating on her. Some of the victims kissed or slept with the narrator, but others were random women whom the narrator knew peripherally, such as cashiers and waitresses. Millicent also lied about her sister Holly. Holly never tried to hurt or kill Millicent; Millicent tried to hurt and kill her.

Annabelle, Petra, and some bartenders appear on TV to give identifying details about “Tobias.” Shortly thereafter, his true identity is released. He hides out in the house of a woman named Kekona, one of his tennis students, who is currently on vacation. Andy helps him break into Millicent’s tablet, where he discovers she has been poisoning their daughter with eye drops to cause her stomach problems. The narrator decides he will kill Millicent. When he sneaks into the house, she is armed and ready for him. The kids wake up and Millicent fires a shot near them. Jenna overhears that Millicent has been poisoning her and stabs her mother. The narrator finishes killing her. He is then found to be innocent because he killed Millicent in self-defense, and did not kill the women from the church. Millicent planted faulty DNA evidence, which exposed the fact that she was trying to frame her husband. The narrator moves to Scotland with his kids so they can get a fresh start and therapy.