False Pretenses
by Catherine Coulter

Dear Reader:

False Pretenses was not only my first contemporary suspense novel, but was also my first hardcover, published in October 1988. It came out the following May in paperback. We've given it a stylishly menacing new cover, and I'm happy to say that the novel didn't need any rewriting, just some updating.

Meet Elizabeth Carleton, a fascinating woman who is not only a famous concert pianist, but is also married to a wealthy international business tycoon, Timothy Carleton. She is the envy of all until her perfect life falls apart literally in a heartbeat: Timothy Carleton is stabbed in the chest with an ice pick and Elizabeth is accused of his murder.

Things rapidly go from bad to worse until a surprise witness appears to give her an airtight alibi. The jury finds her not guilty. The only thing is: She's never met the man who testified on her behalf. What does he want? There is also her late husband's family, who are out to destroy her. On top of everything else, Elizabeth is expected to take over the financial empire her husband left behind.

Then three men suddenly appear in her life. Can she trust any of them? Or is one of them a murderer?

I hope this story will have you turning each dark corner with Elizabeth to see who's there to do her in. Let me know what you think.

Other Books by Catherine Coulter

Labyrinth
FBI Thriller Book 23

The Last Second
Brit in the FBI Book 6

Paradox
FBI Thriller Book 22

The Sixth Day
A Brit in the FBI Book 5

Enigma
FBI Thriller Book 21

Blow Out

The Cove

Hemlock Bay

Hemlock Bay

Catherine Coulter's Bio

Catherine Coulter is the author of 65 novels, including 59 New York Times bestsellers. She earned her reputation writing historical romances. Over a decade ago she added suspense thrillers to her repertoire—with great success. The Cove, the first book in her bestselling "FBI Suspense Thriller Series" spent nine weeks on the New York Times list and has to date sold almost 2 million copies. The Maze, which was reviewed in Publisher’s Weekly as "gripping enough to establish Coulter firmly in this genre," was Coulter’s first book to land on the Times hardcover bestsellers list. Since then, she has lived up to that promise with ten additional back-to-back bestselling FBI thrillers, including The Target, The Edge, Riptide, Hemlock Bay, Eleventh Hour, Blindside, Blowout, Point Blank, Double Take, Tailspin, Knockout, and two omnibus editions: The Beginning and Double Jeopardy.

Coulter’s first novel, The Autumn Countess, was published at the end of 1978. She chose a Regency romance for her debut because, says Coulter, "as any published author will tell you, it’s best to limit the unknowns in a first book, and not only had I grown up reading Georgette Heyer, but I earned my M.A. degree in 19th century European History." Following The Autumn Countess, Coulter wrote six more Regency romances. In 1982 she published her first long historical, Devil’s Embrace. She has continued to write long historicals, interspersing them with hardcover contemporary novels, beginning with False Pretenses in 1988.

Coulter lives with her physician husband in Marin County, California. She grew up in a horse ranch in Texas. She graduated from the University of Texas and received her graduate degree at Boston College. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, she worked on Wall Street as a speech writer. Catherine loves to travel and ski, reads voraciously, and has a reputation for telling jokes, believing the publishing business is too crazy not to laugh.