“All Her Little Secrets” is a fast paced, suspenseful and socially relevant legal thriller and mystery. It also is a commentary on racism, sexism and corporate competition/politics. It is a story about keeping secrets, and a story of the pressure that keeping secrets can cause and the damage that results.
Ellice Littlejohn grew up black and poor in Chillicothe, Georgia. When she was young, she earned a scholarship to a private boarding school in Virginia; she took it and never looked back. Now a corporate lawyer Ellice is working hard to rise within the ranks of Houghton Transportation Co. in Atlanta, Georgia.
Ellice is determined not to allow her past to keep her from success, so she’s keeping her past a secret. Ellice seems to have it all, an Ivy League law degree, a well-paying job, good friends and a charming boss, Michael, with whom she’s having an affair. The problem is that Michael is white, married and has kids, another secret she must keep.
Ellice’s world is turned upside when she is arrives at Michael’s office for their early morning meeting and finds him dead from a gunshot wound to the head, an apparent suicide. Ellice freaks out, so terrified that instead of calling the police she heads to her office two floors down to begin work.
As the news of Michael’s suicide trickles down to the 18th floor, Ellice acts stunned. More shocking is the lack of empathy the other executives show regarding Michael’s death. None of them even mourn his loss. Then they immediately promote Ellice to his position.
She knows that something isn’t right, this promotion came too quickly, the timing seems suspicious. Ellice becomes more suspicious when the executives refuse her access to the cases Michael was working on. Matters are made worse when a Detective Bradford starts investigating Michael’s death and announces she suspects murder. Ellice quickly becomes the prime suspect.
It isn’t long before Ellice uncovers shady dealings within the company that could get her killed. Someone has learned all her secrets, past and present, and are using them to set her up and take the fall for Michael’s murder. Her past and present are colliding. Who can she trust? Who is behind it all?
This legal thriller starts out a little slow but quickly picks up its pace. Although the characters are not likeable they do keep you engaged. This whodunit keeps you guessing all the way to its big reveal at the end.
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