All spoilers for previous Under Suspicion novels will be unmarked
The Sleeping Beauty Killer is a 2016 crime suspense novel by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke. It is the fourth Under Suspicion novel.
Fifteen years ago, Katherine "Casey" Carter was convicted of killing her fiance Hunter Raleigh III, but has always maintained her innocence. Having heard of Under Suspicion's previous successes in solving cold cases, Casey visits the show's producer, Laurie Moran, the day after her release from prison, insisting that Laurie can help find Hunter's true killer.
The prosecution successfully argued that Casey shot Hunter in a drunken rage when he ended their engagement, then falsely claimed she slept through the whole murder after being drugged, leading her to be dubbed "the Sleeping Beauty Killer". The evidence against her is fairly damning: only Casey's fingerprints were found on the murder weapon - a handgun her fiance owned - there were Rohypnol tablets in her purse and there was no evidence of a break-in besides an unlocked door. However, Casey insists that she was drugged, likely at a gala she'd attended with Hunter earlier that evening, and that the killer deliberately framed her.
Casey provides Laurie with several alternative suspects, all of whom had attended the same gala: her ex-boyfriend Jason Gardner, who wanted to rekindle their relationship and wrote a successful memoir about the case; Hunter's envious former flame Gabrielle Lawson; Mary Jane Finder, the scheming secretary of Hunter's father whom Hunter never trusted; Hunter's best friend Mark Templeton, the former chief financial officer of the Raleigh Foundation who is rumoured to have embezzled money, and even Hunter's younger brother Andrew Raleigh, who had grown up in Hunter's shadow and remains there to this day.
In spite of everything, Laurie finds herself believing in Casey's innocence, but she faces an uphill battle to prove this. Another complication arrives in the form of Ryan Nichols, the new host of Under Suspicion whom Laurie finds herself butting heads with at every turn. Laurie also suspects that the former host and her sometime love interest Alex Buckley is hiding something from her. With more than just her career on the line, Laurie must do everything in her power to get to the bottom of the case.
Tropes found in this novel include:
- 20 Minutes into the Past: The novel was published in 2016 and is set in late 2014, a month after the epilogue of All Dressed in White (two months after the main events of the preceding novel).
- Age-Gap Romance: Casey was twelve years younger than Hunter; at the time of their engagement Casey was 25 and Hunter was 37. Some people commented negatively on the age gap, whispering that Casey was a gold-digger or that Hunter wouldn't go through with marrying her because she was just a brief distraction; Hunter's father felt that Casey was far too young and inexperienced to have a well-informed opinion on anything, let alone politics, believing she was an inappropriate choice of spouse for Hunter's future in politics. Casey insists that their age-gap and other differences didn't matter and they loved each other.
- Amicable Exes: It's revealed early on that Angela had casually dated Hunter a few years before he met Casey, but she says she had no hard feelings about them breaking up and him subsequently getting with her cousin, instead being happy for them. Angela and Casey both state that Angela and Hunter's relationship was never all that serious; they even had inside jokes about how terrible Hunter and Angela would've been as a couple, and Angela was invited to Raleigh family functions alongside Hunter and Casey. It turns out that while Hunter viewed he and Angela as friendly exes with no lingering feelings between them, Angela took the break up a lot harder than anyone else realised and was less than thrilled that he was going to marry Casey.
- Ancestral Name: Hunter Raleigh I named his eldest son after himself, making him Hunter Raleigh II. After Hunter II died in the Vietnam War, his younger brother James named his eldest son Hunter III in his honour and to carry on the tradition. Andrew notes that James had forbidden his eldest son from naming any of his children Hunter if he went through with marrying Casey, though Hunter ultimately didn't live long enough to father any children.
- Beneath Suspicion: Hunter's killer is revealed to be Casey's cousin Angela, who no one - including Casey - ever suspected, especially because she had always presented herself as Casey's staunchest supporter. It's to the point that even when Charlotte figures out Angela is the one who has been trolling Casey online for fifteen years, she still doesn't piece together that Angela had set Casey up as the murderer, instead initially believing that it was Angela's way of coping with what her cousin had done.
- Bittersweet Ending: Laurie manages to stop Angela from killing Charlotte to cover up that she killed Hunter and Angela is arrested for her crimes, finally exonerating Casey. Although Casey is overjoyed that she's been proven innocent and can start a new chapter of her life, it's still awful that her own cousin framed her; her mother, Hunter's father and many other people also feel terrible for wrongfully condemning Casey and it'll take a while for Casey to get back to a normal life. Charlotte also discovered her best friend was not only a killer, but nearly died at her hands too. Alex and Laurie's relationship may also be done for, with Alex calling Laurie out for continuously pushing him out and saying he can't be around her anymore until she makes a decision, although Alex secretly hopes this will bring them closer.
- Call-Back: Early on, Casey brings up the Runaway Bride case featured in All Dressed In White; her cousin Angela is both co-workers and friends with Charlotte Pierce, the sister of the so-called Runaway Bride. Casey is aware that Under Suspicion helped solve the case, giving her the idea of getting the show to investigate Hunter's murder.
- Clear Their Name: Laurie usually tries not to take sides in the cases she investigates, but in this book she can't shake the feeling that Casey Carter really didn't kill her fiance, despite the evidence against her, a jury finding her guilty and many other people - including Laurie's father and co-workers - being convinced she did it. Although she attempts to remain objective, Laurie is partly motivated to take the case to prove Casey's innocence. Although even Laurie starts to have serious doubts about Casey's innocence, in the end her investigation uncovers that Casey was indeed set up.
- Continuity Nod: Charlotte mentions that her parents have been seeing more of each other lately and seem to be tentatively dating again; in the epilogue of All Dressed in White, Laurie had predicted that Sandra and Walter would get back together based on her observations of their interactions, including holding hands the whole night.
- Daddy Didn't Show: Casey notes that while her mother and cousin both came to court to support her on the last day of her murder trial, her father didn't show up. He'd urged Casey to take a plea deal rather than plead not guilty and Casey thinks his absence is a sign he genuinely believes she did it.
- Death by Despair: Paula says she believes her husband Frank's fatal heart attack three years ago was brought on by the shame and heartbreak of his daughter being a convicted killer.
- Destructive Romance: Jason's memoir and court testimony made Casey out to be abusive and controlling towards him, while presenting himself as a victim whose only crime was loving her too much. However, it turns out that Jason exaggerated a lot of Casey's flaws while downplaying his own; the relationship was bad for both of them due to their constant arguments, criticisms and break-ups. Jason says he thought that he and Casey would always get back together, but Casey later moved on with Hunter. When Jason tried to get her back, Casey told him their relationship was unhealthy and made her miserable, and that she saw now it wasn't real love because of the way they kept hurting each other. Jason had trouble accepting it was truly over, blaming Casey for all their problems.
- Dramatic Irony: The one person who has always insisted Casey is innocent of murder - her cousin Angela - turns out to be the one person who knows for a fact that Casey couldn't have done it... because Angela killed Hunter.
- Family Eye Resemblance: Maternal cousins Angela and Casey look very different (Angela is a statuesque blonde with a slim build; Casey is a brunette with an athletic build and while she's above average height, she's much shorter than Angela) save for them having the same clear blue eyes.
- Fashion Show: Charlotte mentions early in the story that she and Angela are preparing for a fashion show dedicated to Ladyform's latest fall collection; it's going to be held at an old warehouse in Brooklyn and they have a lot of work to do to get the building ready for the show. Charlotte is alone with Angela at the warehouse setting things up when she starts to realise Angela is the killer, with Angela using a handweight for their gym clothing set to knock Charlotte out, then using the stretchy gym tops to tie Charlotte's hands and feet.
- Foreshadowing: During her first meeting with Casey, Laurie asks how she knows Charlotte Pierce, whom Casey claimed recommended Laurie to her. Casey admits that she's never met Charlotte, but her cousin Angela works for Charlotte and is close friends with her; she claimed to be personally acquainted with Charlotte to get her foot in the door. Laurie notes that this means Casey is willing to bend the truth if it will benefit her. Laurie discovers from the case files of Casey's lawyer that there was broken crystal found in Casey's trash during the murder investigation; Casey says it was from a vase she'd broken in a fit of jealousy over Gabrielle's continued pursuit of Hunter, which she hid from Laurie and her lawyer because she thought it made her look worse. However, like her lawyer before her, Laurie believes that Casey is still lying and that it was actually the remains of a photoframe Casey claimed the killer stole, with Laurie temporarily being convinced of Casey's guilt. It's also the reason Casey's lawyer seemingly did such a poor job representing her; her lawyer discovered Casey had been lying to her about this and knew it would look terrible for her defence, so she switched tactics to try and get Casey a lesser sentence rather than an acquittal.
- Forever Fling: Deconstructed and Played for Horror. It's revealed that Angela briefly dated Hunter when she was in her twenties and she fell in love with him, but they broke up before long because Hunter felt there were No Sparks between them (with Angela pretending to feel the same way to save face). Although Angela subsequently got into a serious relationship with Sean, she still pined for Hunter, but he eventually moved on with her cousin Casey, who he planned to marry. Angela tried to convince Hunter to leave Casey and when he refused, she lost it and shot him dead. Angela soon broke up with Sean after he discovered her obsession with Hunter and she told Sean he'd never compare. In the fifteen years since Hunter's death, Angela has never been able to hold down another relationship because she's still obsessed with Hunter, who didn't even return her feelings.
- Frame-Up: Casey insists that she was set up for Hunter's murder by the real killer. She believes she was drugged with Rohypnol at the gala she and Hunter had attended, as despite only having two glasses of wine she quickly started to feel ill, to the point she and Hunter left the gala early. Casey claims she was so out of it she doesn't even remember getting back home and thus didn't know Hunter had been killed until she woke up on the couch hours later, went into their bedroom and found Hunter's body. Casey says it would've been easy for the killer to press the gun into her hand to get her fingerprints on it while she slept, also transferring gunshot residue onto her skin. She also points out it was highly convenient that extra Rohypnol tablets were found in her purse; the prosecution used this as evidence Casey drugged herself to support her version of events, but Casey says the killer planted the tablets to further incriminate her. Casey turns out to be right on the money.
- Hope Spot: In the prologue, Casey feels immense relief when she's found not guilty of murder, thinking she might have a chance to go back to a normal life now. However, a few moments later the jury finds her guilty of manslaughter and she realises that while it's not as bad as a murder conviction, she's still going to be in prison for a long time and that a significant number of people are convinced she's a killer.
- If I Can't Have You…:
- The prosecution's theory was that Casey fatally shot Hunter because she couldn't cope with him ending their engagement and her suspicion he would return to his ex, which she insists didn't happen. Casey is telling the truth, as while she did have some issues with anger and jealousy, she would never have hurt Hunter, nor was he intending to leave her.
- Casey argues that Gabrielle, who had dated Hunter until he met and became seriously involved with Casey, could've sought revenge by killing Hunter and framing his current partner. While Gabrielle isn't the most mentally stable woman and was obsessed with Hunter, she didn't kill him.
- It's revealed that Angela killed Hunter in a jealous rage because he was going to marry Casey and refused to even consider leaving her, with Angela remaining utterly obsessed with him despite their brief relationship ending years ago. She explicitly says she decided to kill him when she realised he'd never choose her, because if she couldn't have him then neither could Casey or anyone else.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: In the climax, Angela intends to kill Charlotte by pushing her down the elevator shaft of the warehouse they're setting up for a fashion show, believing she can explain it away as an accidental death. Luckily, Laurie intervenes.
- Mama Didn't Raise No Criminal: Downplayed with Casey's father Frank. He thought the murder charges against his daughter were credible, though it's implied he believed she just snapped due to immense emotional stress rather than being a cold-blooded killer, begging her to take a plea deal so that she could get out of prison sooner and have a chance at rebuilding her life. When Casey insisted she was innocent and decided to go with a jury trial, Frank cut her off.
- Manslaughter Provocation: Casey was originally charged with Hunter's murder, but the jury ultimately found her guilty of manslaughter; they concluded she killed Hunter in the heat of the moment when he broke up with her - as opposed to it being a calculated, premeditated act - and that she wasn't of sound mind, plus she was supposedly drunk at the time. Consequently, Casey got fifteen years in prison, which is still a long time but, as even she admits, is better than a life sentence. However, a lot of people are convinced Casey is a cold-blooded murderer who got off lightly. Casey for her part has always insisted she had nothing to do with Hunter's death.
- The Masochism Tango: By all accounts Casey and Hunter's relationship could be turbulent; they often got into debates (both public and private) about politics, art and other topics, and Casey also frequently called out Hunter for being too flirty with other women. The prosecution presented this as evidence of them having a highly dysfunctional relationship that ended with Casey shooting Hunter after an acrimonious break-up. However, Casey says they were still happy together and they were working on their issues (Casey on her jealousy, Hunter on his boundaries with other women), while Hunter's brother says he got the impression their arguments were more playful than aggressive and they enjoyed debating each other.
- Miscarriage of Justice: Casey Carter was charged for the murder of her fiance Hunter Raleigh; she was found not guilty of murder, but was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to fifteen years in prison, having only just been released at the beginning of the story. Casey is adamant that she didn't kill Hunter and wants the case featured on Under Suspicion in the hopes of clearing her name and finding the real murderer. It's uncovered that Casey's cousin Angela was Hunter's murderer, with Angela being publicly arrested. Casey hasn't yet been formally exonerated by the end of the story, but everyone - including her and Hunter's families - now knows she's innocent and she can finally move on with her life, which is what matters most to her.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Casey suggests that her ex-boyfriend Jason could've killed Hunter and framed her in retaliation for her refusal to get back together with him. Jason insists that while he was jealous of Hunter, he didn't kill him or frame Casey. Jason isn't the killer, though he was all-too-willing to present Casey as a violent nutjob in his memoir, potentially to get back at her for rejecting him.
- Red Herring:
- Laurie finds Mark Templeton, the former CFO of the Raleigh Foundation, suspicious given that he left his position under strange circumstances three years after Hunter died. Casey says that shortly before his death, Hunter had been concerned about the foundation's finances; one of the detectives who investigated Hunter's killing also stated he found a note in Hunter's room, containing the contact numbers of financial investigators and the words "Ask Mark". Laurie further discovers that after Hunter died, the foundation's finances were suspiciously low, enough that financial journals commented on it. Mark is also extremely reluctant to talk with Laurie. It turns out that Andrew had been misusing the foundation's money, with Hunter having noticed the problem but never getting the chance to investigate thoroughly before his death. Mark had also found out but chose to resign after James threatened to ruin him if he outed Andrew as the culprit; Mark says while he wasn't involved in the embezzlement, he could still he held accountable for overlooking it and so he chose to cooperate. He doesn't think Andrew would've killed his own brother over it, but he doesn't want to get involved to avoid incurring James' wrath.
- Hunter never trusted his father's assistant Mary Jane Finder, including potentially hiring a private detective to investigate her background. She's also constantly at James' side or speaks on his behalf, with several people getting the impression she's overly-protective and influential of James. Mary Jane isn't maniuplating James - who actually finds it quite amusing people believe that - and she's just got a case of Undying Loyalty to him because he put his trust in her and saved her career after she was fired. James explains to Laurie that Hunter was suspicious over the way she left her previous position, which James only refused to discuss so as not to humiliate Mary Jane; she was an excutive assistant to her best friend's husband until she discovered he was having an affair and he fired her and threatened to ruin her life if she exposed him, with James being the only one willing to hire her afterwards.
- A crystal photoframe containing a picture of Hunter and the then-president turns out to be a double subversion. Both Casey and her former housekeeper say it was kept on Hunter's bedside table, but it went missing around the time of his death. Casey insists that the real killer took it. However, Laurie discovers the police found broken crystal in a garbage bag, leading her to same conclusion as Casey' lawyer: Casey herself broke the photoframe and disposed of the photo, then tried to use it as 'evidence' of her innocence; Laurie is especially suspicious when Casey changes her mind about the show bringing it up. But then it turns out the broken crystal was actually from a vase Casey smashed just as she claimed, with Laurie discovering that Angela was the one who talked Casey out of discussing the photo and that Angela's ex-boyfriend found it in a box hidden in Angela's wardrobe after Hunter died, meaning she was at the scene of the crime.
- Relationship Sabotage: The Under Suspicion team investigate the possibility that someone - in particular the Raleigh family - were intentionally trying to undermine Hunter and Casey's relationship.
- James Raleigh makes it clear he never approved of Casey and all but ordered Hunter to end things with her. The team speculates that James could've had his son Andrew or his personal assistant Mary Jane slip Casey a roofie at the Raleigh Foundation gala, so that she'd appear to be drunk and make a fool of herself, ideally prompting Hunter to break up with her. Hunter's ex, Gabrielle Lawson, also intentionally followed him around and let paparazzi take photos of her cosying up to him in the hopes it would re-spark their relationship, also enlisting the help of gossip columnist Mindy Sampson, who reported that Hunter was considering leaving Casey for Gabrielle. While James did encourage and facilitate Gabrielle's attempts to win Hunter back, neither he or anyone in his inner circle drugged Casey.
- It's revealed that Angela Hart was the one who roofied Casey at the gala, with the intention of embarrassing her and Hunter, hoping that Hunter would see her as an uncouth drunk who wasn't worthy of him. However, when Angela brought this up with Hunter after he took Casey home, Hunter angrily dismissed this, making it clear he had no plans to leave Casey and that he could tell that Casey wasn't just drunk. Angela did not take this well.
- Rewatch Bonus: Angela forgets to bring Casey a change of clothes when she and Paula pick her up from prison, so they all stop off at a shopping mall to buy some new clothes for her. Someone there recognises Casey and by the evening, it's being reported that Casey is so callous that her first priority after being released was to go shopping. It's this that prompts Casey to go see Laurie Moran, as she realises that even though she's served her time, people may never stop hounding her even when she's just trying to do basic, everyday activities. Following The Reveal, it's not hard to guess that Angela deliberately left behind Casey's clothes so she would be forced to go shopping, thus making her look bad to the public. It wouldn't be a stretch that Angela herself reported this to the media, given she's fed Mindy Sampson plenty of salacious insider information over the years.
- A Shared Suffering: Casey says that one of the things she and Hunter bonded over was losing a loved one to cancer; Hunter's mother succumbed to cancer three years before he met Casey, while Casey's beloved aunt Robin died from the illness about thirteen years prior when Casey was twelve. Casey recalls holding Hunter and comforting him as he tearfully recalled his mother's struggle. Casey's cousin Angela resented this, later stating that she was the one whose mother died, yet she and Hunter never bonded over this.
- Shout-Out: When Timmy hands Laurie his iPad to look at a news article, Laurie notes that the last time Timmy let her borrow the device, he got her "hooked on a game where plants battled zombies".
- Slipping a Mickey: Casey believes that someone at the Raleigh Foundation gala slipped a roofie into her wine, either to humiliate her in public and/or to make it easier to kill Hunter and frame her later that night; while several people reported that Casey appeared drunk, Casey insists she barely drank anything and that her illness felt very different from being drunk; Laurie thinks that Casey's description sounds identical to her friend's experience of being roofied and Casey tested positive for Rohypnol, though the prosecution argued that Casey took the roofie herself after killing Hunter to make herself look innocent. Angela drugged Casey's wine to make her seem drunk and embarrass herself in front of the gala guests, then planted the Rohypnol tablets in Casey's purse to undermine Casey's account.
- Something Only They Would Say: Jerry notices that many of the troll posts made by "RIP_Hunter" use the phrase "and also", which could potentially be used to identify the user. Near the end, Charlotte notices that several of the notes Angela made for their upcoming fashion show contain the phrase "and also", leading her to suspect and soon confirm that Angela is RIP_Hunter.
- They Know Too Much: In the climax, Angela panics when Charlotte brings up that she knows Angela was the one trolling Casey online, smashing her over the head with a piece of equipment. Angela quickly realises this was a mistake, as Charlotte hadn't even figured out Angela had killed Hunter (rather, she believed it was Angela's way of coping with her cousin's guilt) and she could've just made up a convincing explanation, but it's too late now that she's physically attacked Charlotte. Angela decides her only solution is to kill Charlotte.
- Time Skip: The prologue takes place on the day Casey learns her verdict in the murder trial; the story then picks up fifteen years later on the day Casey comes out of prison.
- Troll: Back when Casey was first arrested and put on trial for Hunter's murder, someone going by the name "RIP_Hunter" used internet message boards to post nasty comments insisting she was guilty and alleging other horrible things she'd done, while extolling Hunter. Fifteen years later, someone using the same username begins taunting Casey again on social media after she's released from prison. The part that makes both Casey and the Under Suspicion team believe that it's not just a random person on the internet is that the tone and content of the posts indicates they knew Casey and Hunter personally, plus they're still at it fifteen years on, suggesting RIP_Hunter is a stalker or even someone close to Casey. It's revealed to be her cousin Angela.
- Varying Competency Alibi: One of the arguments for her innocence that Casey puts forward to Laurie is that if she had killed Hunter, she wouldn't have been so sloppy about covering her tracks. Hunter was shot multiple times and there were two bullets in the walls, indicating the killer wasn't an experienced shooter. Casey points out she had firearms training and so wouldn't have missed or needed to fire so many bullets (although the prosecution argued that Casey was drunk and mentally unstable during the killing). She adds that she could've just told the police that she'd used the gun at a shooting range to explain why her fingerprints were on it, only insisting she never fired it because as far as she knew this was true. Casey also states that if she'd intended to drug herself to back up her story, she wouldn't have been so clumsy as to leave spare Rohypnol tablets in her own purse.
