Shari Lapena’s 2026 novel, Getting Away with Murder, is a domestic thriller that explores the dark side of ambition and wealth. The story centers on Ted and Jill Westcott, a wealthy Brooklyn couple whose lavish lifestyle conceals a desperate financial crisis. Facing ruin, Ted hatches a plan to murder his older brother, Greg. The novel examines how a single act of violence sets off a chain reaction of paranoia, blackmail, and further bloodshed. The book explores themes such as The Corrupting Power of Greed, The Danger of Misplaced Trust, and Wealth and Power as Impediments to Justice. 

Getting Away with Murder is the 10th thriller from Lapena, an internationally best-selling author renowned for her contributions to the domestic suspense genre. Lapena gained widespread recognition with her breakout novel The Couple Next Door (2016) and has since published a string of popular books, including An Unwanted Guest and Not a Happy Family. Her work is characterized by its focus on the dark secrets lurking behind the polished facade of wealth, a theme she continues to explore in this novel. Lapena’s books are consistent bestsellers in Canada, the US, and the UK, cementing her status as a leading voice in contemporary psychological thrillers.

This guide refers to the 2026 Pamela Dorman Books/Viking edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, cursing, substance use, illness, and death.

Plot Summary

Ted Westcott and his wife, Jill, live a seemingly blissful life of luxury in their Brooklyn Heights brownstone. However, despite coming from a wealthy family, Ted is facing a financial crisis, which he initially conceals from his wife. An investment banker of middling talent, Ted has squandered his inheritance and borrowed heavily to fund a disastrous stock market gamble. Under pressure to pay back the loan, Ted reveals the truth to Jill and suggests that their only option is to sell or mortgage their beloved home. Jill is insistent that they find an alternative and they decide to ask Ted’s wealthy, arrogant older brother, Greg, for a loan. Greg refuses and humiliates Ted by taunting him about his poor financial decisions. 

Furious with Greg, Jill comes up with an idea that has already been germinating in Ted’s mind: killing Greg and passing the death off as an accident. Greg is divorced and childless, and Ted knows that he will inherit everything in the event of his brother’s death. They arrange for a day of sailing with Greg and while the three of them are alone on the boat, far from shore, Ted shoves Greg overboard. They watch from a distance as he struggles and drowns, then call the Coast Guard, claiming Greg accidentally fell and never resurfaced.

Most of the questioning after the incident is perfunctory, but Special Agent Ramirez of the Coast Guard Investigative Service is immediately suspicious of the supposed accident. He suspects but cannot confirm that Ted and Jill knew before Greg’s death that they were the latter’s sole heirs. Ted and Jill insist they only learned about the inheritance once Greg was already dead (this makes the death look much less suspicious). Ramirez questions individuals close to the couple, such as their longtime cleaning lady, Nadya, and Jill’s best friend, Lara, but he is unable to find anything incriminating. However, Ramirez’s questions cause Lara and Nadya to realize that Greg’s death is suspicious and that Jill and Ted could be hiding something. The case is closed, and the legal proceedings begin; their lawyers caution Jill and Ted that it will be months before they have access to the money from the inheritance. 

As the news leaks that Jill and Ted are soon going to be extremely wealthy, a former co-worker named John Burnley approaches Ted. Burnley has a history of fraud and tries to dupe Ted into investing some of his new wealth, but Ted refuses. A short time later, Ted and Jill begin receiving accusatory texts from an anonymous number. They speculate about who could be sending the texts; suspects include John Burnley (who could be angry with ted for refusing the investment deal), Ramirez (who suspects they murdered Greg), Lara (who may be jealous of their new wealth), or Minerva (Greg’s ex-wife, who may resent the inheritance they are receiving). Ted initially comforts Jill that none of these people have any proof or evidence, and thus they can safely ignore the texts. 

However, the threatening texts escalate. Jill and Ted are horrified when they discover two tiny hidden cameras in their home and realize that seemingly private conversations (in which they openly discussed murdering Greg) have been recorded. They destroy the cameras but know that whoever planted them will have copies of the incriminating footage. More texts confirm that the messages are coming from the same person who recorded them, and that this person is now going to blackmail them using the incriminating footage. 

Since Nadya has regular access to their home, she is the first person they confront, but she denies knowing anything about hidden cameras. Believing Nadya’s statement, Ted and Jill turn to other suspects who could be blackmailing them. Ted thinks the culprit is most likely John Burnley and confronts him. Unbeknownst to Ted, the hidden cameras and secret footage are new information which he has inadvertently revealed to Burnley. Burnley bluffs that he wants $4 million in exchange for the footage and Ted angrily agrees. Shortly thereafter, Ted and Jill go on vacation to Venice. While they are abroad, they receive a text message from the blackmailer that contradicts Ted’s conversation and leads them to realize that Burnley tricked them (he doesn’t have the recordings, but he now knows that they are being blackmailed). Jill is increasingly angry that Ted’s attempts to resolve problems just make things worse. When Jill and Ted run into Lara and Ben (who are also vacationing in Venice), Jill becomes paranoid that Lara is the blackmailer. 

Back in New York, Ted confronts John Burnley, who offers to help him find the true blackmailer (and the recordings). Ted agrees. Believing Lara and Ben are the culprits, John breaks into their home. He terrorizes and tortures them but finally concludes they don’t have the recordings or know anything about them. When Ben tries to defend himself and his wife, John accidentally pushes Ben over the second-floor stair railing, killing him instantly. John flees the house. The next day, Lara confronts Jill and Ted, accusing them of sending the man who murdered her husband. She reveals she will lie to the police about the intruder’s motives: She will not say anything about the intruder looking for the recordings and will simply state that he wanted money (making the home invasion look like a robbery). However, she demands $5 million in exchange for her silence. Jill and Ted agree. 

Now that they know neither Lara nor John Burnley is the blackmailer, Jill and Ted increasingly suspect Minerva. When they meet with her, she reveals that Greg had terminal pancreatic cancer and would have died within months anyway. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Jill and Ted, Nadya has learned that her son, Peter, has been working with his friend Konstantin to plan robberies on wealthy homes. Peter used Nadya’s keys and security code to access the brownstone and plant cameras, which Konstantin has been monitoring. After learning that Jill and Ted killed Greg, Konstantin began blackmailing them. Nadya confronts Konstantin and demands a share of the blackmail money when it is paid out. Konstantin sends a message to Jill and Ted, explaining he knows they won’t have the inheritance money for months and that he will wait quietly until they receive it. 

Months pass, giving Ted the opportunity for research and legal consultation. He learns that illegally obtained recordings are inadmissible in any court of law, meaning that the recordings cannot be used as evidence that he and Jill killed Greg. Shortly after Jill and Ted gain access to the inheritance, Konstantin texts them with instructions on how to pay him. However, Ted ignores the text: He no longer cares if the blackmailer (who he still assumes to be Minerva) goes public. Jill likewise tells Lara they won’t pay her, pointing out that if she goes public now with the true story of what happened at the home invasion, she will only incriminate herself and be forced to reveal that she blackmailed Jill and Ted. 

Konstantin leaks the footage in which Jill and Ted openly discuss the murder to several news outlets and to the police. Unbeknownst to Jill and Ted, they did not find all the cameras: Several others have been recording them even after they destroyed the first two. These additional cameras captured footage of Lara accusing them of being involved in Ben’s death, and of Lara demanding money in exchange for silence. Konstantin provides this footage to police as well. When the media reports on the shocking footage, Jill and Ted realize there are more cameras and that the police now know about Lara’s accusations (for which they were not prepared). 

The police question Jill and Ted; both decline to comment (which they are legally permitted to do). With the recordings inadmissible and no one willing to testify, the police have no usable evidence. Ted and Jill are released, having successfully gotten away with murder. However, the public leak of the recordings means they become social pariahs, shunned by their community and now trapped in a loveless marriage. When Lara is questioned, she considers making statements about her suspicions that Jill and Ted were involved in Ben’s death but does not want to open herself up to blackmail charges. She declines to comment and the case is closed. 

Accepting that he will not receive any blackmail money, Konstantin gives the phone connected to the remaining camera feed to Nadya (who has quit her job working for Jill and Ted). While she and Peter move on with their lives, she periodically spies on her former employers and sometimes sends threatening texts. Not knowing who is watching them, or how to make them stop, Jill and Ted remain paranoid and terrified.