The Woman Who Went Overboard by Florence Wetzel

Release date: April 28, 2020

Subgenre: Nordic noir, Psychological thriller

About The Woman Who Went Overboard:

 

A psychological thriller about a Swedish-American woman who becomes obsessed by a Norwegian widower during a cruise along the coast of Norway.

Agnes Andersson is an awkward middle-aged woman who desperately wants a husband. And what better place to find one than on a cruise along the coast of Norway? During the
voyage Agnes meets her ideal man, a handsome Norwegian widower named Einar. The only problem is that Einar prefers Pamela--Agnes' new best friend.

When Pamela's body washes ashore almost a year later, her daughter visits Agnes to ask questions about the cruise. Their conversation becomes a cat-and-mouse game where Agnes bends the facts to avoid revealing the truth about Pamela's disappearance and death.

A psychological thriller set in the cozy atmosphere of a cruise ship, The Woman Who Went Overboard is a story of romantic obsession, and a haunting tale of how far one woman will go to get the man of her dreams.

Florence Wetzel is the author of several novels, including The Grand Man: A Scandinavian Thriller. She lives part-time in Stockholm.

 

Excerpt:  

 

A month after Pamela’s body washed up on the coast of northern Norway, her daughter came to our home for a visit.

It was early December 2017, and the afternoon was gray and rainy, as usual in Bergen. I was sitting on the couch making final adjustments to my black-and-white Marimekko coffee service, arranging the plates so everyone would have access to the sugar and cream, as well as the delicious butter cookies I had baked that morning.

Einar was standing by the front window, staring out into the rain and rubbing his right hand. I stopped my fussing to admire him. Love and pride rushed through me. My tall, handsome Norwegian husband! Who would have imagined that little Agnes Andersson from Saugerties, New York, short and plump and hippy, with owl glasses and an unfortunate set of jowls, could have such a tall, handsome man by her side?

I like tall men. I always have. That was the first thing I noticed about Einar, who is six foot three in his stocking feet. Many Scandinavian men are tall, which is one of the reasons I wanted one. Besides, everyone knows that men from Scandinavia make excellent husbands.

Naturally Einar and I have had our problems. All couples do. Me, I like to keep positive. Lately I’ve become convinced that there’s a Grand Plan underlying everything. You just need to trust and watch for the clues. From the minute I met Einar, it felt like the Universe was conspiring to bring us together. The occasional problem couldn’t destroy that.

From my seat on the couch, I heard a car drive onto the cobblestone street in front of our little green house. The tires hissed as the car slowed down on the rain-slick stones.

Einar turned to me. “She’s here.”

I opened the door, and Wendy stepped into our front hallway. When she pulled down the hood of her dark-blue raincoat, my hand flew to my mouth. She looked just like Pamela. Same blond hair and fine features, same light-green eyes that turned up at the corners like a fox’s.

There were differences, of course. Wendy’s hair was a long, thick ponytail, whereas Pamela’s had been a feathery cap. Wendy was also a good four inches taller than her mother had been.

“Come in!” I said, clapping my hands. “Welcome. Just take off your boots and leave them there. You can put on a pair of those felt slippers. Don’t worry, they’re clean! I’m Agnes, of course. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Wendy shrugged off her boots and smiled weakly. She was quite pretty, exactly like her mother. But her complexion was pale, and her eyes were bloodshot.

“Nice to meet you too,” Wendy said. “Although I wish it were under different circumstances.”

“Hello,” Einar replied stiffly. He didn’t say her name and I knew why. Despite his facility speaking English, Einar had trouble saying words that started with “w.” So instead he avoided them. As he did with all things he didn’t want to talk about.

 

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Booktrailer: 

About Florence Wetzel:

Photo by Helena Berzelius (Leafoto.se)

Florence Wetzel was born in 1962 in Brooklyn, NY, and grew up in Westfield, NJ. She went to Barnard College where she studied with writer B. J. Chute. Florence is the author of several novels, as well as a book of poetry and the jazz mystery novel Dashiki. She worked as a jazz journalist for many years, including co-authoring the autobiography Perry Robinson: The Traveler. Florence lives part-time in Stockholm.

 

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