This novel by Alessandra Torre (who has written 23 novels) was chosen by my mystery book group for this month's (Oct. 2021) read. Protagonist Helena Ross is a famous and successful romance writer who has lost both her husband and her daughter. She lives alone in their huge house with almost no furniture and never sees anyone. She communicates only by email with her agent, Kate. But a diagnosis of terminal cancer will change all that. There is one last story she must tell before her 3 months is up and she quickly figures out that, given her failing body and mind, she can't do it alone. So she commands her agent to contact the author with whom Helena has had a running feud for over a decade. Although Helena despises Marka Vantly's trashy pornographic books, Helena recognizes an ability in Marka to imbue her characters, and therefore her readers, with real emotion. She wants Marka to be her ghost writer. This final book will be Helena's confession. We figure out early on that she probably killed her husband somehow, but the extent of her guilt is not revealed until the end; the attempt at suspense is dragged out far too long in my opinion. The ghost writer turns out to be a surprise and is probably the more engaging character. Helena herself is a miserable being and, although one can feel sad for her, it's hard to like her. It is well written otherwise, with well-developed and credible characters.
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