The Secret Lives of Married Women by Elissa Wald - a book reveiw

The Secret Lives of Married Women by Elissa Wald left a lot to be desired in a novel that was a Hard Case Crime Novel or by the cover, a book of erotica. There were surprisingly very little of either.
There was no great mystery to solve and very little in the way of erotic moments in the book. Two whole stories and one good sex scene between them both? What there is in The Secret Lives of Married Women are two very confused married women.
The first story is about Leda, a young married woman who is pregnant and buying her first home with her Russian husband Stas. She finds a handyman who is helping her with her remodel, but seems to be taking a much more avid interest in her. Leda complains to her husband and soon the handyman goes missing. Leda must come to terms with her suspicion that somehow her husband may be involved in the murder of the handyman. More so, come to terms with her own feelings about it. The fact that she loved the thought that her husband may have killed for her. That this thought brought passion and danger to desire for her husband.
The second story is about Leda's sister Lil, a high powered attorney who has little to no time for her husband or family life. Lil approaches everything in her life in a cold and calculating manner and the result of her attitude has begun to wear on her marriage. She takes a case for a well known real estate developer who is caught breaking the law. But what is surprising here is not the developer but his assistant. Nan. A young woman who up until this current job, had lived her life before as a submissive in a sex club. It is in her interviews with Nan that finds in herself, a longing for desire that she had left behind.
Both stories are well written and character driven. They do seem poorly marketed. The Secret Lives of Married Women would have been better served not being advertised as some mystery noir with erotic overtones. For in that regard, it does fail miserably. Had it been marketing differently it might have been better appreciated for the characters and fine writing that it does have.