On the night before Mother's Day, 2004, teacher and mother-of-two Nancy Seaman drove through a storm to Home Depot and bought a hatchet. Three days later, the body of her husband, Bob, was discovered in the back of her SUV, hacked and stabbed to death. These facts aren't in dispute; the question is, How did it happen? Did Nancy murder her husband when he asked for a divorce, or was she a battered woman who killed in self-defense? Even the family was split on the answer, with older son Jeff certain his father was murdered in cold blood and younger son Greg equally certain his mother was telling the truth. Maynard (To Die For), who was struck by similarities between her life and Nancy's, tells the complex story of a desperately unhappy marriage. Though she was unable to get Nancy or most of her immediate family to talk to her, Maynard seems to have formed a surprisingly complete picture of their lives. Her meditations on the parallels between her family and the Seamans aren't compelling but don't detract from a gripping story. For all collections.-Deirdre Bray Root, Middletown P.L., OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Maynard serves up an examination of murder among the middle class. The setting is a gated community in a suburb outside Detroit. On Mother's Day in 2004, Nancy Seaman, the wife of a successful auto-industry engineer, herself an award-winning fourth-grade teacher, bought a hatchet at Home Depot. Three days later, her husband's mutilated body was found in the back of the family's Ford. There is no mystery as to who committed the crime. The mystery revolves around Nancy's defense, which was based on battered-woman syndrome. Although the basic plot is gripping, Maynard spends far too much time tracing the backgrounds of both families. It is also problematic that, although Maynard was unable to attend the trial, her account centers on the proceedings and the testimony delivered there; the result is not as compelling as it might have been. Still, Maynard's portrayal of battered-woman syndrome is thought-provoking, reinforcing her theme that we never know what is behind the walls of even seemingly respectable homes. Expect some media attention, but, finally, this material might have been better suited as a magazine article. --Connie Fletcher Copyright 2006 Booklist