'Reliable Wife': Madness And Passion In Wisconsin

Murder, madness, unbridled passion — It's the stuff of romance novels. But Robert Goolrick's new book A Reliable Wife is more complex than that. Sure, Goolrick makes good use of some familiar literary types: the lonely, wealthy man with dark secrets in his past, the expected arrival of a prim, proper woman who will change his life and share his mansion in the middle of nowhere.

But the mail-order bride who steps off the train as the book begins is no Jane Eyre. She is a beauty and a liar with her own dark secrets and her own sinister plans. In his first novel, Goolrick, who until now has been best known for his memoir The End of the World As We Know It has spun a tale that will keep many a reader turning the pages late at night to find out what happens next.

Guest host Lynn Neary talks with Robert Goolrick about his first novel.