All spoilers for previous Under Suspicion novels will be unmarked
Is it possible that someone in the wedding party hated Amanda enough to take her life? Laurie wondered. Unless the man in that grainy surveillance video or some other random stranger was the killer, it was highly likely that one of the people staring at the camera had killed Amanda. But which one?
All Dressed In White is a 2015 crime suspense novel by Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke. It is the third Under Suspicion novel.
Laurie Moran, the producer of the investigative true crime show Under Suspicion, is approached by Sandra Pierce, the mother of the so-called "Runaway Bride" Amanda Pierce. Just over five years ago, Amanda was set to marry her fiance Jeff Hunter in a lavish ceremony at the Grand Victoria Hotel in Palm Beach. However, just a day before the wedding was to take place, Amanda vanished without a trace. Some people believe that Amanda simply got cold feet and ran away to start a new life far from her overbearing family, but it's also entirely possible something sinister befell the bride-to-be. Desperate to find out what happened to her youngest daughter, Sandra begs Laurie to investigate.
Sandra's top suspect is Amanda's groom, Jeff; although he initially helped in the search, he was quick to lawyer up when questioned by the police and then married Amanda's maid of honour, Meghan White, just fifteen months later. Jeff also stands to inherit Amanda's $2 million trust fund in the event of her death; although there's no body, Jeff would only have to wait seven years before Amanda is legally declared dead or could even file a motion to do so earlier. He's not the only suspect, though.
Meghan may not only have wanted Amanda out of the way because of her feelings for Jeff, but had argued fiercely with Amanda about her allegedly stealing her idea for a clothing line only days before the wedding trip. Amanda's older sister Charlotte has long been jealous of Amanda and will inherit the family company now Amanda is gone. Then there's the wedding photographer's assistant, Jeremy Carroll, who has a history of crossing boundaries and appeared unusually fixated on Amanda. And of course, there's the possibility Amanda indeed slipped out of the resort herself, potentially with help, but why would she go to such lengths to disappear? Whether Amanda has gone into hiding or was the victim of foul play, it becomes clear that almost everyone involved in the wedding has secrets to hide.
Tropes found in this novel include:
- 20 Minutes into the Past: The novel was published in 2015, though based on the timeline it's set a year earlier in 2014, a few months after The Cinderella Murder; it's mentioned in both this novel and the preceding one that it's been nearly a year since Under Suspicion aired its first episode and just over five years since Laurie's husband was killed; the latter occurred around the same time Amanda disappeared.
- The Alibi: A complication is that virtually none of the wedding party have solid alibis for Amanda's disappearance (save her parents, who didn't arrive at the resort until the following morning); after the wedding party had dinner in the Grand Victoria Hotel's restaurant, Henry and Kate went to bed early, while Charlotte, Amanda and Meghan had drinks at the hotel bar before going up to their rooms, and Jeff, Nick and Austin shared a nightcap in Jeff's room before they all turned in for the night (the bride and groom had separate rooms so they could get ready for the wedding). Amanda told Meghan and Charlotte she'd forgotten something and went back downstairs, and that was the last time anyone saw her; they assumed Amanda went back up to her room by herself until she didn't show up for brunch the next morning and it was discovered her bed hadn't been slept in. Ostensibly, everyone stayed in their own rooms all night, but they can't actually confirm that's where they were. The sole exception is Henry and Kate, though they're not exactly jumping to reveal they spent the night together in Henry's room (given they were married and not to each other).
- Ambiguous Gender: Deliberately invoked; Detective Henson says she and her team can't be sure if the person who called the police to reveal the location of Amanda's remains is a man or a woman, as their voice was intentionally muffled to hide their identity. Henson also points out that it would've been easy for the caller to buy voice distortion equipment from just about any spy shop. Given the call was determined to have been made in the vicinity of the Grand Victoria Hotel and that the main suspects consist of both men and women, any one of them could've made the call. It's later revealed the caller was Nick, though for a while a lot of people thought it could've been Meghan.
- Ambiguous Situation: While it becomes obvious Amanda was murdered, her exact cause of death is never mentioned. This one is justified given that it's not confirmed Amanda was killed until her body is found, with the killer being revealed and apprehended later that same day; at this stage the police hadn't even formally identified the remains as Amanda's, let alone done an autopsy to determine a cause of death (despite this there's no doubt the body is Amanda's; the killer admits to murdering her and anonymously gave the cops the exact location of her body, the remains match Amanda's general description and Amanda's purse, driver's license and personalised engagement ring and wedding band were found buried with her). After the killer is caught, it's unnecessary to delve into the gruesome details as it no longer contributes to solving the mystery.
- Betty and Veronica: Laurie herself notes that Jeff's wife Meghan is "the total opposite" of his former fiancee, Amanda. Amanda was a sweet, charismatic blonde, while Meghan is an aloof, practical brunette. Amanda worked for her family's clothing company, while Meghan is an immigration lawyer. Their mutual friend Kate exemplifies the difference between them via their reactions to a fellow student disappearing from their college: Amanda organised candlelit vigils and prayer sessions to support affected people, while Meghan helped organise and supply search teams for the missing girl ("Amanda was a caretaker. Meghan was a pragmatist.") Meghan is all too aware that a lot of people will be ready to brand her as a ruthless, cold-hearted bitch who swooped in to take Amanda's place in Jeff's affections, while Amanda is presented as a saintly cancer survivor who tragically disappeared before her dream wedding.
- Betty and Veronica Switch: This trope comes into play with Amanda and Meghan as more about the two women is revealed. While Amanda wasn't a bad person, she did become harder-edged and more self-centered after surviving cancer, is hinted to have had a domineering and ruthless side, and was considering calling off her wedding only days before the ceremony. Meghan mostly graciously stood back to let Amanda and Jeff be together despite being in love with Jeff, genuinely wanted to believe Amanda had just run off to pursue her own happiness, and only shows an interest in claiming Amanda's trust fund after learning she's pregnant. While Jeff loved Amanda, he does wonder if they were really right together, especially as Amanda wanted him to change his job and was reluctant to have kids right away, while he notes that Meghan has always accepted him just as he is and shares his dreams. Nick - who is admittedly biased considering he's a misogynistic egomaniac - says he always preferred Meghan because Amanda was "two-faced" for "pretending" to like him.
- Big Secret:
- Kate Fulton feels she made "the worst mistake of [her] entire life" on the wedding trip. She's extremely nervous about this mistake being uncovered and even begs Laurie to edit out her segment entirely, feeling she said too much in her interview. She also went to bed earlier than most of the other members of the wedding party, but didn't appear to have stayed in her room. After Laurie finds photographs showing her holding hands under the table with Amanda's brother Henry - who also went to bed early - she guesses correctly that Kate and Henry - both married young to spouses who stayed at home and with newborns or toddlers - had a few too many and slept together. Kate admits she and Henry both regard it as a terrible mistake and don't want anyone, least of all their spouses, to find out; she had alluded to feeling as though she rushed into marriage too young in her interview, which she thinks makes her look worse. While it's an uncomfortable situation, it has nothing to do with Amanda's disappearance, and so Laurie agrees to keep it quiet.
- Meghan really doesn't want anyone else to know she had argued with Amanda just hours before she disappeared, as the argument was about Meghan allegedly having an affair with Jeff. The production team eventually find secret photographs taken by Jeremy, clearly showing Meghan giving Longing Looks towards Jeff and her argument with Amanda. The team correctly deduce that Amanda had finally realised Meghan had feelings for her fiance and confronted her. Meghan didn't do anything to hurt Amanda, though she believed it may have contributed to Amanda running away (at least prior to the discovery of her body) and she rightly denied having an affair with Jeff, which Amanda only suspected because Nick had falsely told her Jeff was cheating with a bridesmaid. Meghan is fully aware that it looks terrible for her and Jeff, and so she tries to keep it hidden.
- Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Meghan discovers she's pregnant a few weeks before the body of her friend Amanda is found. In the ending, Amanda can finally be laid to rest, while Meghan and Jeff are excitedly preparing for the arrival of their baby.
- Bittersweet Ending: Amanda Pierce does turn out to have been murdered, but at least her loved ones finally have answers and a body to bury. Her murderer is also apprehended before he can kill Meghan, with both she and her unborn baby surviving. She and Jeff reconcile with each other and with the Pierces, who as a gesture of goodwill give Jeff their blessing to claim Amanda's trust fund, saying she would want him to have it. The latest Under Suspicion episode is the show's biggest success yet, though Laurie is saddened that it will be the last time she'll be working with Alex for a long while; she also suspects it's because he finds it too painful to be close to her when she can't fully return his feelings.
- Burner Phones: The police try to track the anonymous call that told them where to find Amanda's body, but they discover it came from a disposable mobile phone that just about anyone could buy; they do know the call was placed from somewhere on or near the Grand Victoria Hotel's property, but this still doesn't narrow it down much.
- Call-Back: Laurie recalls the revelation in I've Got You Under My Skin that the man who killed her husband and tried to kill her and her son didn't really care about them; they were just a means to an end to strike at the true source of his vendetta: her father Leo. She realises that the person who killed Amanda and has now abducted Meghan has similar motives to her husband's murderer; his true target is technically Jeff, who is being set up for the crimes.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- Nick and Austin have custom-made boat signs and hang them off every boat they charter. Consequently, everyone easily recognises that it was Nick's boat Meghan was photographed getting on when they see his "Ladies First" sign in the photo, leading to the realisation he's the killer - as he claimed he was in Boca meeting a client - and the launching of a rescue operation to save Meghan.
- Meghan is practically glued to her cellphone because of her work; she also doesn't trust the hotel wi-fi's security and so creates her own wi-fi network using her phone's hotspot. Jeff is able to use Meghan's personal network to locate her phone after she storms out of their room and can't be contacted; when he sees that her phone has been left behind on the pier, he instantly realises something bad has happened to her, just as Meghan hoped.
- It's mentioned a handful of times throughout the story that Meghan has some kind of medical condition and she asks her doctor if it could negatively affect her unborn baby. She has ultra-rapid metabolisation, causing certain drugs to be processed by her body far more quickly than usual. She has to take stronger dosages of things like painkillers for them to be effective and it ends up saving her life; Nick drugs her with a ketamine dosage that would immobilise anyone else for two to three hours, but because of her unusually fast metabolism, Meghan starts recovering from the effects in under an hour. She pretends to still be drugged to catch Nick off-guard, before taking the opportunity to attack him. When Jeff finds the doctor's email to Meghan confirming that her condition wouldn't do anything to her baby, Jeff learns she's pregnant and realises this is why she called Amanda's lawyer about Jeff's inheritance, as opposed to more sinister reasons.
- Chekhov's Party: It's mentioned that after getting back from Jeff's bachelor party - which occurred concurrently with Amanda's bachelorette party at the resort's restaurant and bar - Nick and Austin joined Jeff in his room for a nightcap, where Jeff briefly admitted to having cold feet about marrying Amanda before everyone decided to call it a night. The nightcap gave Nick the opportunity to steal the wedding bands from Jeff's room safe, which he knew Jeff kept unlocked, later planting one of the rings on Amanda's body to frame Jeff. Because everyone else had gone to bed after a night of partying, no one save the photographer Jeremy noticed Amanda slip out of the hotel to meet Nick, nor did they realise Nick had left and didn't return for some time.
- Close to Home:
- Jerry admits he'd considered pitching the Runaway Bride case to Laurie months ago, but that while they were staying at Dwight Cook's Bel Air mansion for the filming of the Cinderella Murder case, she lightly mentioned the swimming pool was almost as big as the one at the Grand Victoria Hotel and then looked sad. Jerry guessed that Laurie may have been to the hotel with her late husband Greg and decided against suggesting the Runaway Bride case, as it might be too upsetting for her. Laurie confirms she had been to hotel with Greg for their second wedding anniversary, but that she feels confident it won't affect her. For the most part, Laurie is able to remain objective in spite of the personal nature of the location and the case involving a doomed wedding, although she does find herself emotionally withdrawing from Alex because of her memories of Greg.
- Early in the story, Laurie had been considering investigating a cold case in which a nine-year-old boy was murdered, with his stepmother being the prime suspect, but she ultimately finds it too disturbing given she herself has a nine-year-old son who has had a brush with death.
- Continuity Nod:
- Sandra notices and picks up a photograph of Laurie, Greg and Timmy in Laurie's office; it was mentioned in The Cinderella Murder that Laurie finally felt comfortable putting up photos of her late husband in her office again, once his murderer was caught.
- Laurie vaguely recalls the basics of the Runaway Bride case, but says she didn't follow it closely (conveniently allowing other characters to exposit information to her and to the reader) because it happened just over five years ago, around the same time her husband was murdered (as depicted in the prologue of I've Got You Under My Skin), so understandably she had other things on her mind.
- Sandra tells Laurie she thinks she is the ideal person to handle the Runaway Bride case because she's aware that the two previous Under Suspicion episodes solved the cases they investigated, and that Laurie herself knows what it's like to lose someone she loves and have no answers for years. Jeff also says he and Meghan watched the Graduation Gala episode and he that he considered calling Laurie about Amanda's case, but didn't think her family would go along with it.
- Contrasting Sequel Setting: The preceding novel took place primarily in California and especially Los Angeles, with the crew doing quite a bit of travelling to shoot at various locations of interest. This time, the novel is set back on the East Coast in Palm Beach, Florida; the crew also mostly stick to one location, a luxury resort named the Grand Victoria Hotel, from where the possible victim disappeared.
- Convenient Photograph: A justified example; Jeremy, the assistant wedding photographer, is obsessed with taking photographs of people unawares, wanting to capture who they really are when they're not 'acting'. As such, he has loads of candid photos of Amanda, Jeff and their wedding guests that reveal quite a bit about them.
- Photos of Amanda and Jeff demonstrate they were head-over-heels for each other, with no evidence of any tension between them, which suggests they weren't fighting in the lead-up to the wedding and appears to rule out that Jeff was only after Amanda's money.
- Kate and Henry were photographed holding hands under the table, hinting at their tryst the night Amanda disappeared and ruling them out as suspects, as they were together when Amanda went missing.
- Photos of Meghan clearly show her pining for Jeff without his knowledge, which suggests they weren't having an affair, while also revealing she and Amanda had argued hours before her disappearance.
- In the present day, Jeremy manages to snap a picture of Meghan and Nick heading aboard Nick's boat; when no one can find Meghan, they realise this is where she's been taken and that Nick lied about leaving the resort.
- Disposing of a Body: In the event Amanda was killed, then the killer did a damn good job hiding her body, as the police haven't been able to find any trace of her for nearly six years. As she disappeared from a seaside resort, some people speculate her body ended up in the Atlantic Ocean. Amanda's body was actually buried beneath a church parking lot in nearby Palm Beach that was undergoing resurfacing at the time, so the burial site was concreted, with no one being any the wiser. The killer actually has to put in an anonymous call to the police to tell them exactly where to find the body; the police use ground penetrating radar to determine the tip-off is legitimate before they start excavating. The killer later explains he hid the body too well, because he'd intended for Amanda's remains to be found much earlier.
- Divorce Is Temporary: Walter and Sandra divorced a few years ago due to their grief over their daughter's disappearance. However, it's clear they're still in love and they struggle to get used to the idea of being each other's ex spouse. Walter is emphatic in how much he regrets being such a distant father and not supporting Sandra when Amanda went missing. A month after the mystery of what happened to Amanda has been solved, Laurie observes that they were holding hands the whole night and she believes they will get back together.
- Driving Question: Is Amanda Pierce alive or dead, did she leave the Grand Victoria by herself or was she abducted, and if she was murdered who would want her dead?
- Et Tu, Brute?: When it starts looking increasingly likely that Nick murdered Amanda and has kidnapped Meghan, Jeff initially goes into denial and tries to defend Nick, saying he doesn't understand why his best friend since college would do this and that maybe it's all a misunderstanding. He quickly realises it's true, especially when Laurie points out that Nick could actually have been jealous of Jeff all this time and asks him if Nick was interested in Carly, a girl Jeff dated many years ago who was also murdered.
- Everyone Went to School Together: Most of the wedding party attended Colby College in Maine together (with the exception of the bride's older siblings, Charlotte and Henry) and remained close friends. Amanda, Meghan and Kate were roommates, as were Jeff, Nick and Austin. Nick and Austin had also previously known each other and been friends since elementary school. Jeff and Kate clarify that while a lot of the media coverage of Amanda's disappearance referred to Jeff and Amanda as "college sweethearts", they actually weren't that close at Colby; Amanda mostly knew Jeff through Meghan and Nick, as Meghan and Jeff were friends while Nick and Amanda dated for a short time. It wasn't until a few years after graduation Amanda and Jeff were re-acquainted and began a relationship. This becomes significant to the plot, especially when it's revealed that Jeff had casually dated a girl named Carly at Colby, who was later murdered, and that Nick had also been interested in her but was rebuffed.
- Fake Alibi: On the second-to-last night of filming, Nick tells his friends he's sailing from the Grand Victoria to Boca Raton to meet a client. He also sends Jeff a text telling him he's in Boca. This was all done in an attempt to establish an alibi for Meghan's murder, though it falls apart when Jeremy snaps a photo of Nick and Meghan going aboard his boat at the Grand Victoria's pier, after he was supposedly already in Boca.
- Family Business: The Pierces have run Ladyform, a clothing company specialising in women's underwear and gym clothes, for generations; Walter Pierce's great-grandfather was the founder of the company, taking advantage of the popular shift from metal-based corsets to cloth brasseries to preserve metal during World War One. Walter is the current head of Ladyform and is proud of the legacy he's created for future generations of Pierces; his ex-wife Sandra was informally involved, giving him advice on marketing and employee matters. His daughter Charlotte is currently vice president of Ladyform and will take over the company eventually. His younger daughter Amanda also worked for the company, instigating a rebranding of Ladyform to bring it into the 21st century, which ended up saving the company and making it more profitable than ever (before that, Ladyform was seen as a reliable but old-fashioned "granny-panty company", while now it's seen as stylish and all about body positivity). Unfortunately, Walter's devotion to Ladyform and his eagerness that a Pierce always be at the helm has created issues for his children. Walter's son felt so pressured to be involved and was so disinterested he moved to the other side of the country to do his own thing, while Walter's daughters became rivals in the workplace, with Charlotte feeling particularly overshadowed by Amanda's successes and it being suggested Amanda wasn't completely happy working for Ladyform, a role she was practically pushed into accepting.
- Florence Nightingale Effect: Amanda and Jeff had been dating on and off for a year when Amanda was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma at the age of twenty-six. He proposed to her the next day and devoted himself to caring for her throughout her treatment, with her family even nicknaming him "Saint Jeffrey". They began wedding planning in earnest once Amanda was declared cancer-free. It ends up being deconstructed, as Amanda was noted by a few people close to her as having "changed" after recovering from her life-threatening illness, becoming tougher, more focused on her own happiness and less certain about the direction her life was taking. Even Jeff eventually admits that once Amanda was less frail and no longer dependent on him for support, he started to question if they were truly right for each other; it's implied Amanda was having similar thoughts, such as confiding in Charlotte that she worried Jeff only proposed because she got sick.
- Foreshadowing:
- In the prologue, which takes place not long before Amanda's disappearance, Amanda is clearly questioning if she's making the right decision in getting married and thinks that she will "know soon enough". Kate also says Amanda mentioned that she "needed to check on something", and Charlotte and Meghan say she made an excuse about "forgetting something" to head back downstairs after her bridesmaids had gone to bed. Nick had told Amanda that her fiance was cheating on her with a member of the bridal party, exacerbating her anxieties about the wedding, and she had secretly arranged to meet with him the night she vanished to learn more so she could make a decision.
- When Laurie tells Henry that all the other members of the wedding party have already signed on to do the show, Henry asks if that includes Kate Fulton unprompted; when Laurie asks if they should be asking her anything in particular, Henry quickly says it's just because he never kept in touch with the wedding party besides his sister. In hindsight, he was worried Kate may mention their extramarital one-night stand on a national TV show.
- Meghan tells Alex in her interview he could theoretically make any member of the wedding party look guilty depending on how he presented facts about them, even though they likely had nothing to do with Amanda's disappearance; as an example she says she tried to visit Kate in her room the night Amanda was last seen - Kate having gone to bed earlier than the others - but got no answer even when she banged on the door. Kate claimed she'd been sound asleep and never heard Meghan knocking, despite Meghan knowing from their time as college roommates she's a light sleeper. That's because she was actually hooking up with Henry in his room.
- The names Nick and Austin give to their chartered yachts - Nick has Ladies First, Austin has Lonesome Dove - hint at their true natures. Nick is obsessed with being in relationships with women - and as many as possible - to satisfy his own ego, while Austin is genuinely looking for companionship and just a bit inept in the romance department.
- It's repeatedly brought up that at around eleven o'clock the night Amanda disappeared, Austin and Nick left Jeff's room following a nightcap and both went to bed in their own rooms, meaning they technically can't confirm where Jeff was after that time, nor can their movements be accounted for by anyone else. Because everyone was so focused on Jeff, they never thought to check on Nick's alibi or lack thereof.
- Meghan is extremely reluctant to participate in the show, feeling it will draw unwanted attention to her, but goes along with it for Jeff and Amanda's sakes. When she is forced to admit in her interview that she technically didn't introduce Jeff and Amanda (at least not intentionally), that she was already romantically interested in Jeff and accused Amanda of stealing a product idea from her, she thinks to herself "all her worst nightmares were coming true. Well, not her very worst nightmares". Amanda had also figured out that Meghan was in love with Jeff and resented that he was marrying Amanda, arguing with her about an alleged affair the night she vanished. Meghan didn't have an affair with Jeff, but she knows it's unlikely anyone else will believe that if it comes out.
- Henry mentions that in addition to Amanda and her bridesmaids, he and the other groomsmen used Jeff and Amanda's rental car to drive into the nearest town to get supplies they'd forgotten to bring on the trip, as the rest of them didn't have rental cars. This means that they all had some familiarity with the area and would've known the ideal spots to hypothetically dispose of Amanda's body and ditch her car, as well as how to get back to the hotel on foot. It also wouldn't raise any suspicion that their fingerprints and DNA would be found in the vehicle. Because it could've been any one of them, everyone looks at Jeff as the prime suspect rather than Nick, just as he planned.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Applies to the four members of the bridal party:
- The bride, Amanda, was Sanguine. She was a charismatic extrovert who knew how to make people happy and easily attracted others to her. She was focused on rebranding her family's company to be more about encouraging positive body image and healthy beauty for women. She successfully overcame cancer and her brush with death did little to dampen her spirit. However, she spent so much time focused on what other people wanted, she became frustrated and increasingly indecisive about what she wanted, including reconsidering her wedding mere days before the ceremony, and became less patient with her family and friends.
- Charlotte, one of Amanda's bridesmaids and her sister, is Choleric. She's a shrewd businesswoman who is devoted to her family's company. She tends to be honest, sometimes to the point of bluntness, and is competitive and hardworking. She can be jealous and insecure, especially when it comes to her sister and gaining her parents' approval, which her mother thinks brings out the worst in her, making her irritable and easily-offended. She has a tendency towards sarcasm.
- Meghan, Amanda's best friend and maid of honour, is Melancholic. She tends to be private and emotionally-reserved, rarely losing her cool and focusing on practical solutions. She does have a more passionate side, but tends to keep it under wraps. To some people, she comes off as cold and calculating. Her independent nature can lead to her not confiding in others, even those closest to her (which can backfire on her) and she has insecurities about how others will perceive her and her relationship with Jeff.
- Kate Fulton, Amanda's other close friend and bridesmaid, is Phlegmatic. She's less outgoing and confident than the others and comes off as sweet and empathetic, rarely thinking the worst of anyone save herself. She easily slipped into a quiet life centred around her high school sweetheart and their children, but sometimes wonders if she should've had more adventure before settling down.
- Frame-Up: Nick intended to frame Jeff for killing Amanda, including stealing her wedding band from Jeff's safe and putting it on her finger, persuading Jeff to only speak to the police with a lawyer present, and using Jeff's rental car to move Amanda. His plan went a bit awry given he expected Amanda's body to be found within weeks or months at most, only for it to go undiscovered for over five years, albeit Jeff did have to live with people suspecting him. When the case comes back under scrutiny thanks to Under Suspicion and he realises Jeff is still the top suspect, especially because of the issue of Amanda's trust fund, Nick places an anonymous call at the local police station telling them where to find Amanda's body; with Jeff also having been linked to the murder of Carly Romano and Nick intending to incriminate him in Meghan's murder, Nick hopes that this time Jeff will wind up in handcuffs.
- Friends Turned Romantic Rivals: Amanda and Meghan were best friends who both fell in love with Jeff. He got engaged to Amanda, though she went missing before the wedding and he later ended up marrying Meghan. In this instance, Amanda was oblivious that Meghan loved her fiance at first and Meghan intended to keep it that way. She tries to play it off as her and Jeff being Just Friends who fell in love after Amanda disappeared, as she knows it already looks bad enough that she got into a relationship with her missing friend's fiance not too long after the incident; she thinks it will be worse if people know she was in love with Jeff the whole time and that Amanda had found out shortly before she vanished.
- The Ghost: Henry's wife Holly and Kate's husband Bill are mentioned several times, but neither appears in-person; they don't travel with their spouses to Palm Beach for the filming of Under Suspicion because of work and/or childcare commitments (Bill has to work long hours and late nights and has four kids, while Holly has two young children and lives on the other side of the country), not to mention neither of them had been on the wedding trip five years ago, so they likely have very limited knowledge on what could've happened to the missing bride. They still have relevance to the plot, namely, that Henry and especially Kate are secretive about their whereabouts the night Amanda was last seen because they don't want Bill and Holly to find out about their one-night-stand.
- Grief-Induced Split: Sandra and Walter Pierce were mostly Happily Married for over thirty years, but ended up divorcing two years ago over the disappearance of their youngest daughter, Amanda - a day before she was due to be married - three years earlier. Both had opposing reactions to the tragedy and didn't approve of the way the other handled it. Walter wanted to believe that Amanda had run away to start a new life - unable to bear the alternative - and never even liked Amanda's name being mentioned out of guilt. Sandra was convinced that Amanda didn't leave of her own free will and something terrible happened to her, devoting herself to discovering the truth. Walter felt Sandra had become obsessed with the case, while she felt he had given up on Amanda. Sandra eventually left Walter, saying she couldn't cope with his response anymore and that they needed to grieve separately in their own way. After Amanda's body is found and her murderer is caught, it's strongly implied they will get back together, as they never stopped loving each other.
- Grow Old with Me: It's revealed Laurie stayed at the Grand Victoria Hotel several years ago with her husband, Greg, to celebrate their second wedding anniversary. Laurie recalls that at the time she'd blissfully assumed they would celebrate "fifty more", but unfortunately Greg was murdered just three years later, leaving Laurie a widow in her early thirties.
- Guilty Until Someone Else Is Guilty:
- Many people, especially Sandra, are convinced Jeff killed Amanda, with Sandra slamming the door in Jeff's face after he learns Amanda's body has been found and tries to offer his condolences. That is, until Nick is arrested for kidnapping and trying to kill Meghan, also confessing to killing Amanda. Amanda's family are quick to make amends. In their defence, Nick had intentionally tried to frame Jeff for the crime and nearly got away with it, so it's understandable people were highly suspicious of him.
- Meghan becomes the prime suspect in Amanda's disappearance in the second half of the novel and all the evidence appears to point in her direction, right up until the moment she is kidnapped by the real culprit and the characters' focus switches to trying to rescue Meghan rather than entrap her.
- If I Can't Have You…: A prevailing theory about Amanda's disappearance is that Jeff found out she was having second thoughts about the wedding, they fought and he killed her. It turns out this partly was the motive for Amanda's murder, as well as Carly's before her, but Jeff isn't the culprit: his best friend Nick killed both women because they'd rejected him for Jeff. He also intends to kill Meghan for the same reason.
- Inheritance Murder: Sandra is convinced that Jeff, potentially aided by Meghan, murdered her daughter to gain access to her trust fund, which was worth $2 million at the time and is now worth even more. Walter had insisted Jeff sign a pre-nup so that he couldn't get any part of the family company - which Amanda would take over when Walter retired or died - in the event of a divorce. However, Jeff would still have received some money in the divorce settlement and Amanda felt so bad about the pre-nup, a month before the wedding she wrote into her will that Jeff would receive her trust fund. Sandra points out to Laurie that if Amanda decided not to marry Jeff, then Jeff wouldn't see a cent of her money, giving him a motive to kill her and either have her declared legally dead or just wait until her body was found to collect the inheritance. It's revealed that Amanda wasn't killed for her money, nor was Jeff the killer. The inheritance motive sure as heck made it easier for the real killer to pin it on Jeff, though.
- Irony:
- Nick is considered far more attractive than Austin and tends to be more successful with women, to the point even he cracks jokes about it. Nick is seen as charming and glamorous, while Austin is still a bit of a nerd at heart and most people consider his wealth his main desirable trait. Nick winds up in jail due to the discovery he'd murdered two women for rejecting him and loses everything, while it's revealed Austin has finally found love with a woman who shares his nerdy interests and they're planning to marry.
- Many people suspect that Meghan and Jeff were having an affair in the lead-up to Jeff and Amanda's wedding, especially as they went on to marry. It turns out that an an extramarital fling did occur at the wedding, but it wasn't between Jeff and Meghan, but rather Amanda's brother and her other bridesmaid Kate.
- Legally Dead: Subverted; despite the fact no one has seen or heard from Amanda for nearly six years, neither her family or her former fiance have tried to have her declared legally dead. Officially, you have to wait seven years to have someone declared dead without a body, which doesn't yet apply to Amanda, although it's pointed out that in New York State (where Amanda had been living when she disappeared) you can file a motion for a judge to assess the situation and declare someone deceased at an earlier date. Jeff hasn't done so despite believing Amanda is dead and him having married another woman, though it's speculated that he may just want to wait the full seven years so as not to draw unwanted scrutiny. Amanda's lawyer speculates that if Amanda decided to start a new life, she may have intentionally set up her disappearance this way so that Jeff could at least get some of her wealth to make up for abandoning him. It becomes a moot point after Amanda's body is found, although it is seen as suspicious that Jeff's wife called Amanda's lawyer about claiming the inheritance on the very same day (especially given the police were tipped off via an anonymous phone call).
- Lost Wedding Ring: Amanda and Jeff's wedding bands were taken from Jeff's room safe - which he tended to be careless about locking - during the wedding trip. Jeff says that in all the confusion and distress looking for Amanda, he didn't even realise the rings were gone until he got back to New York and assumed that a hotel employee stole them. Meghan says it's an unlikely coincidence that the rings happened to be stolen the same day Amanda disappeared, and puts forward that Amanda took them as a keepsake when she decided to take off. Laurie and her team agree that it's too big a coincidence, especially as the rings wouldn't be worth much, so it seems improbable an employee would risk being caught with them. Things get stranger still when Amanda's ring is found with her body, as Jeff claimed Amanda was never in his room that night. It's eventually revealed Nick took the rings while having a nightcap in Jeff's room and put Amanda's ring on her finger after killing her; because the rings were well known to be kept in Jeff's room, Nick hoped that it would lead the police to conclude Jeff had murdered his fiancee following a fight, which nearly succeeds.
- Love Hurts: It's obvious to Laurie that Alex is still in love with her and while she enjoys his company, she doesn't quite feel ready yet to get into another relationship, as she's still mourning her late husband and is implied to be scared of having her heart broken again. Alex tells Laurie that because of his busy schedule as a lawyer, he probably won't be able to be involved in another episode of Under Suspicion for a long time, so they won't see each other as much. Laurie believes that Alex is actually choosing to distance himself from the show because he finds it too painful to be near her, knowing there's little chance of her fully reciprocating his feelings any time soon. Laurie feels bad about this and also wonders if she's making a mistake in keeping him at arm's length, hoping that Alex is still willing to wait for her until she's ready to be with him.
- Lured into a Trap:
- It revealed that Nick tricked Amanda into slipping out of the resort to meet with him at the end of the hotel's driveway, by claiming he had knowledge that Jeff was cheating on her with a bridesmaid. Nick insisted she not tell anyone else about their meeting and that it had to be off the grounds of the resort, as he didn't want it getting back to Jeff that he'd ratted him out if the wedding got called off. Once Amanda met with him, Nick drugged and murdered her.
- In the climax, Nick lures Meghan out to the hotel pier by sending her an email purportedly from Kate via a fake account, claiming to have information that could help take suspicion off Jeff and to meet with him alone. Nick holds Meghan at gunpoint to stop her from running or screaming, drugs her with ketamine and then takes her onto his yacht to dispose of her at sea.
- Malicious Slander: Nick told Amanda a few days before her wedding that Jeff was cheating on her with a bridesmaid, strongly implying it was Meghan - who did in fact have romantic feelings for Jeff. This was a lie to lure Amanda into secretly meeting with him away from the Grand Victoria and to mess with her head; Jeff was in fact faithful to Amanda and had no idea how Meghan felt, while Meghan had no intention of acting upon her feelings.
- Motive = Conclusive Evidence: Laurie and the team spend a lot of the story fixated on who has the biggest motive to kill Amanda, with their suspicions particularly falling on Jeff (so he can get Amanda's money) and Meghan (to be with Jeff and potentially to get the money, too). They also strongly suspect Charlotte (to take control of Ladyform from the sister she envied) and Jeremy Carroll (because he appeared to be stalking Amanda and has a history of creepy behaviour towards people). As it's not even clear if Amanda was murdered at first due to the lack of physical evidence and none of the wedding party have strong alibis, the focus on potential motives is understandable. However, just because they appear to have motives, it doesn't mean they did kill her. Laurie eventually realises that a lot of the evidence could also point to someone no one had ever considered: Nick. He doesn't have an immediately obvious motive to kill Amanda, but one that becomes clearer once they look closer (extreme jealousy of the bride and groom); he also had the opportunity to kill Amanda and dispose of her body, nor does he have an alibi.
- Mr. Exposition: Jerry serves as this early in the novel, giving a detailed overview of the Runaway Bride case to Laurie, Grace, Brett Young and the reader. It's justified because while Laurie usually does background research on cases herself, she isn't that familiar with the Runaway Bride case; she didn't pay much attention when the story first broke because she was still reeling from her husband's murder and only decides to take the case following a last-minute meeting with Sandra Pierce. It turns out that Jerry was obsessed with the case back when he was a journalism student, so he knows heaps about it and can fill in the other characters.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Besides Jeff, Meghan is another top suspect because she was in love with Jeff, and Amanda's disappearance conveniently allowed her to take her place as Jeff's wife. Meghan didn't kill Amanda and as she had sensed Amanda was having doubts, she believed that she may really have just run away and so she didn't feel guilty about getting into a relationship with Jeff, saying that while she believes Amanda did love Jeff, "I just loved him more and that's not a crime".
- My Own Private "I Do": Meghan and Jeff had an extremely low-key wedding; they got married at a courthouse and had margaritas and take-out barbecue at their apartment in lieu of a reception. They didn't invite any of their friends and family, with Meghan's friend Kate not even realising they were getting married until Meghan told her after the fact in a phone call. The reason they opted for this over a more traditional wedding is because they knew many people didn't approve of their relationship and would gossip about them, given that fifteen months ago Jeff was supposed to be marrying Meghan's best friend - for whom she was a bridesmaid - until she mysteriously disappeared.
- "Near and Dear" Baby Naming:
- Henry Pierce named his older daughter Sandra after his mother and his younger daughter Amanda after his little sister; they're nicknamed Sandy and Mandy to avoid confusion. Given it turns out that Amanda was murdered before her younger niece was born, it also counts as Dead Guy Junior in Mandy's case.
- Jeff and Meghan tell Laurie Moran that they intend to name their unborn daughter "Laura" in her honour, as if it weren't for her Amanda's disappearance wouldn't have been solved and they'd still be the prime suspects, not to mention Laurie helped save Meghan's life.
- Never Found the Body: There's a strong possibility Amanda was killed the night she went missing, but neither her body nor any trace of a crime having been committed was ever uncovered. This led some people to conclude she might still be alive, especially as there was no sign of a struggle in Amanda's room and she'd taken a small purse containing her driver's licence with her; the car she had rented for the week was missing from the hotel garage and was later found parked at an abandoned gas station in town, where she could've been picked up by someone (it had rained that night, so any footprints and tyre tracks were washed away). However, she'd also left her clothes, credit cards and phone behind, though this would make some sense if she intended to start a new life under a different name. Eventually, her body is found two miles away from the hotel, buried beneath a parking lot that was undergoing resurfacing at the time.
- Nice Guys Finish Last: Inverted throughout the story. Jeff Hunter, a humble public defender, is the one who gets long-term, truly loving romantic relationships because he's genuinely kind and easy-going, with a natural warmth and charisma that draws people to him. Nick Young, a jet-setting hedge fund manager, can't get lasting relationships because while he can certainly turn on the charm, he comes off as glib and arrogant more than endearing; he otherwise relies on his money and good looks to attract people. Nick finds it extremely frustrating and unfair that Jeff has so easily found true love, when comparatively he's so much 'better' (at least in his mind). He's apparently unable to grasp Jeff's appeal to women. Grace herself notes that while Nick is certainly handsome, she thinks Jeff is "the real catch" because he's so sweet and down-to-earth.
- Noodle Incident: Whatever incident that led to Jeremy becoming estranged from his biological parents and living alone in the house his aunt left him is never elaborated on.
- Not Quite the Right Thing: Nick and Austin both persuaded Jeff to hire a lawyer for when the police questioned him about Amanda's disappearance (Austin came up with the idea first, Nick went along with it) because the police considered him the prime suspect. However, a lot of people - especially Amanda's mother - thought this made it look like Jeff had something to hide (especially given Jeff himself is a lawyer), making him appear more guilty. Austin insists he was just looking out for Jeff, though Nick is less certain it was a good idea. While Austin truly did have good intentions, Nick was well aware it would look bad and didn't try to dissuade Jeff because he wanted him to look suspicious.
- Not the First Victim: The team realises that whoever killed Amanda Pierce may also have killed Carly Romano several years earlier, who attended the same college as Amanda and most of the wedding party; her murderer was never caught. They initially suspect Jeff Hunter, as he had been romantically involved with both women, or Meghan White, given she was in love with Jeff even back then, but later realise it was Jeff's friend Nick Young, who was bitterly jealous that both women had rejected him for Jeff.
- Omnidisciplinary Lawyer: Defied. While discussing Amanda's will and the process of declaring someone legally dead in New York State, Alex (a criminal defence attorney) points out to Laurie that as a public defender, Jeff may not know "all the ins and outs" of inheritance law. Meghan - an immigration lawyer - has to call Amanda's lawyer for advice about claiming her trust fund and is told she'd have to hire her own attorney as he represents Amanda's estate. It's also mentioned that Meghan and Jeff became reacquainted after graduation when Jeff consulted Meghan about an immigration issue for one of his cases.
- Only Bad Guys Call Their Lawyers: This trope comes up as a plot point. One of the reasons Sandra first became suspicious Jeff was involved in her daughter's disappearance is because a week after she went missing, he hired a defence lawyer and refused to answer the investigators' questions without his lawyer present. Sandra remarks to Laurie that if Jeff had nothing to hide and truly wanted to help, why would he need a lawyer? She also adds that as Jeff himself is a public defender, he wouldn't need a lawyer to help him with legal terms and such. Jeff also hadn't been formally arrested or charged with killing Amanda; at this stage there wasn't any hard evidence she was even dead. Laurie knows that sometimes innocent people hire lawyers for protection and it's not necessarily a sign of guilt, but she does think Jeff's situation sounds a bit odd. It's later explained that Jeff's friends urged him to hire a lawyer because the police were eyeing him as the chief suspect, but they're not certain now this was the best move. Jeff actually is innocent, although Nick is well aware of this trope and persuaded Jeff to lawyer up because he knew it would make Jeff look guilty.
- Outliving One's Offspring:
- Carly Romano's parents tragically outlived their daughter, who was a twenty-year-old junior at Colby College when she was murdered.
- A little over halfway through the novel, an anonymous tip leads the police to Amanda's body, confirming she was murdered. Even though they already knew she was likely dead, her parents still take the loss of their youngest child hard; Sandra admits a small part of her clung to the hope that Amanda might be alive, which is what Walter desperately hoped for as well. The discovery of the body and the subsequent arrest of the killer does at least give them some closure after not knowing what happened for over five years.
- Phony Psychic: Sandra tells Laurie that she was so desperate to find out what had happened to her missing daughter she consulted a psychic, who unhelpfully told her that her daughter "would be reincarnated in South America in the near future", adding that she never bothered trying that route again.
- Police Are Useless:
- Sandra Pierce is highly critical of the way the police handled the initial investigation into Amanda's disappearance and even the Under Suspicion crew admit they could've put in more effort. Half the investigators believed Amanda just took off by herself and even those of them who thought she was dead didn't seem in a hurry to do anything (Sandra recalls overhearing one detective saying to his partner that Amanda was probably on an island with a Russian billionaire, to which the other bet him ten bucks they'd pull her body from the ocean). The police stopped looking for Amanda after one month and didn't thoroughly question the last people to see her, even though by this point it was increasingly unlikely it was merely a case of cold feet. They never even noticed surveillance footage of Jeremy Carroll following Amanda around the hotel, while Laurie picks up on it the first time she reviews the footage.
- Detective Marlene Henson, the current lead investigator on the case, takes it more seriously and grudgingly works with the Under Suspicion crew after Amanda's body is found to get to the bottom of the mystery. She and her officers still don't end up contributing much until the very end, organising a rescue of Meghan and arresting Nick after the production crew figures everything out. Henson also at least gets Nick to break down and confess to his crimes rather than stall interrogators with lawyers.
- Possession Presumes Guilt: A variation. Amanda's body is found wearing her wedding band, which is odd given that she hadn't gotten married yet. As the wedding bands were being kept in Jeff's room safe and he claims that's where he last saw them, this indicates that either Amanda was in Jeff's room that night and he lied about it, or that the killer was in there at some point and used the ring to incriminate Jeff.
- Red Herring:
- All the evidence pointing to Amanda having run away is recontexualised when her body is discovered buried nearby thanks to an anonymous phone call. The killer intended for Amanda's body to be found much earlier, but did too good a job hiding her body and covering their tracks. Amanda was having doubts about the wedding, which the killer exploited to lure her from the hotel.
- Charlotte and Amanda's rivalry, and her apparent indifference regarding tge wedding. While Charlotte was (and still is) jealous of Amanda, she did still love her sister and would never have hurt her. She also suspected that both Amanda and Jeff were getting cold feet and would end up calling the wedding off.
- Meghan and Amanda's argument over X-Dream is irrelevant to what happened to Amanda and as it turns out, Meghan didn't even care about it all that much or seriously think she should be credited; what she was really upset and angry about was Amanda taking the man she loved for herself (albeit unknowingly) and Meghan used X-Dream as an excuse to lash out at Amanda.
- The production crew realise that not only was Meghan probably in love with Jeff far longer than she let on, she replaced Carly Romano, another girl who had briefly dated Jeff, as president of her college's debate club after she was murdered. She also calls Amanda's lawyer about how to claim her trust fund on the same day an anonymous phone call leads the police to Amanda's body, prior to that information becoming public knowledge. The cops and production team understandably believe that Meghan killed Carly and then Amanda to get what she wanted from them, but it turns out Meghan had nothing to do with their deaths, and it was a pure coincidence she took Carly's place in the debate club and that she called the lawyer the same day Amanda's remains were found.
- It's subtly suggested that Austin is the killer; he was at Colby at the same time Carly was murdered and had known her, he was attracted to Amanda but was told she was out of his league, he's said to be hopeless with women despite his longing for a relationship, Nick remarks he can't always tell what's going on in Austin's head, he's a bit jealous of Nick's closeness to Jeff, he insisted Jeff consult a lawyer when Amanda vanished, he can seem a bit too insistent that Jeff would never hurt Amanda and he had the opportunity to steal the wedding band found on Amanda's body from Jeff's room. When Meghan is abducted, we're told that her abductor is a man she's known for years but not the man's name, and he forces her aboard his yacht, so it plausibly could be Austin. It's not until a few pages later that the crew identify the yacht as Nick's; he'd supposedly already left the resort for Boca, but the only proof is a text message he sent to Jeff claiming he was in Boca.
- Rewatch Bonus:
- It's brought up in Nick and Austin's interview that shortly before Jeff became serious with Amanda, Nick was the only one of the trio who was seriously involved with someone, nearly getting engaged to a woman named Melissa, but it didn't last because Nick, in his own words, "made a few missteps at a buddy's bachelor party" and Melissa dumped him when she found out; Nick adds that at least he had a serious relationship, unlike Austin. Initially it just seems to be more evidence of Nick's playboy nature, but it also serves as foreshadowing as to Nick's motives: his inability to find romantic love. The timing of both Nick's break-up and Jeff's subsequent engagement to Amanda no doubt increased Nick's rage and envy towards the couple. It also becomes ironic considering Austin announces his own engagement in the epilogue.
- When Alex brings up in the interview that Jeff moved on from Amanda with Meghan rather quickly, Nick looks angry and snaps whether everyone really expected Jeff to "become a monk", with Austin adding that Nick can be defensive when it comes to Jeff. In hindsight, Nick's anger is actually because he'd intended for Jeff to be formally accused of killing Amanda, only for there to be no clear evidence of a crime having occurred; less than two years later Jeff found love again with another woman Nick wanted.
- When all the show's guests are meeting up in the hotel's ballroom, Henry asks if Kate brought her family with her, with Sandra explaining they stayed behind in Atlanta seeing as filming a true crime show isn't exactly an ideal family vacation. Henry was no doubt worrying about the potential awkwardness of being around Kate's family, given he and Kate had a one-night stand five years ago.
- Rewind, Replay, Repeat: While Laurie, Grace and Jerry are reviewing the surveillance footage the hotel sent them, Laurie spots something strange and tells Jerry to go back and replay it. They realise that the footage shows a man surreptitiously following Amanda hours before she was last seen, indicating she may have had a stalker, which wasn't uncovered by the original investigation.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: It turns out Amanda did leave the resort by herself, hence why there were no obvious signs of her having been kidnapped, and why she took her own rental car. However, she didn't leave with the intention of fleeing her own wedding as many people believed - explaining why she didn't take anything besides her driver's license - but because she was intending to meet the person who, unbeknownst to her, planned to kill her, luring her from the hotel under the pretence of discussing her fiance's supposed infidelity. The reason there were no signs of a struggle or other violence in or around the abandoned rental car is because the killer drugged her with ketamine to stop her putting up a fight, as he later attempts to do with Meghan and says he wishes he'd done with Carly.
- Ripped from the Headlines: The story appears to be loosely inspired by the real case of Jennifer Wilbanks, which was also referred to as the Runaway Bride case; six days before her lavish wedding, Wilbanks went out for an evening jog and disappeared, with her concerned fiance and family reporting her missing. However, in the real case Wilbanks was found about a week later when she called her fiance on her would-be wedding date, claiming to have been kidnapped; she later admitted to investigators she'd lied and ran away to escape the stress of the wedding. The fictional Amanda Pierce case saw the bride disappear for over five years and it turns out she was the victim of foul play. The Wilbanks case is even seemingly referenced in the novel; when Laurie is pitching the Runaway Bride case to Brett Young, he says he thought the bride eventually turned up in Vegas (where Wilbanks briefly stayed after running away), only for Laurie to state that this is a different missing bride case.
- Room Full of Crazy: When Laurie and Leo track down Jeremy Carroll's address and pay him a visit, they discover his living room and dining room are filled with his photo collections, consisting of potentially thousands of pictures - most of which are of people unaware they were being photographed - stacked floor-to-ceiling or scattered on almost every available flat surface, some dating back years. And these are just the rooms we see. Laurie and Leo both find it unsettling and Laurie later tells Alex that Jeremy is "living like a hoarder".
- Sequel Hook: At the end of the novel, Laurie has already found the next case she wants to feature on Under Suspicion: "A young woman was in prison for a crime she didn't commit, and Laurie was going to prove it". This sets up the plot of the next book, The Sleeping Beauty Killer.
- A Shared Suffering: Jeff and Meghan had already been friends for several years, but it's believed the reason they became even closer and eventually fell in love is because of their shared grief for Amanda, Jeff's fiancee and Meghan's best friend, who had mysteriously disappeared the day before she and Jeff were to be married and was never heard from again. While they were supporting each other over the loss, Meghan and Jeff's relationship became romantic and they got married. Technically, Meghan was already in love with Jeff, but she and Jeff say that it was Amanda's disappearance that brought them together as a couple.
- Shout-Out:
- Jerry says that while Walter Pierce has agreed to do the show, Jerry got the impression he thinks they're "tilting at windmills".
- Leo Farley is reading the latest Harlan Coben novel (potentially Missing You based on the timeline)note and is mentioned as being a big fan of his books.
- When Laurie and Alex part ways at the end of the novel, Alex is reminded of the line "God speed your love to me", which is from "Unchained Melody".
- Sibling Rivalry: Amanda and Charlotte became rivals for their father's approval after they both began working for his company, Ladyform. Most people close to them note that the rivalry was always more from Charlotte's side than Amanda's and she admits that she felt like "a weed next to a rose" compared to her sister. Charlotte was hurt and resentful that Walter made Amanda heir to the company over her, despite Charlotte being the eldest and having worked there longer, though she does grudgingly admit that Amanda came up with good ideas that helped Ladyform become more profitable (which Charlotte initially opposed in an attempt to appease their old-fashioned father) such as adding a New York office, rebranding the company to be trendier and coming up with the popular X-Dream gym clothing line. It's implied that Charlotte didn't just feel she was competing with Amanda as a colleague, but as a way to gain their father's affection, as he's always been devoted to Ladyform but was an emotionally distant parent. Some people speculate on whether the rivalry escalated to violence, with even the sisters' mother briefly wondering if Charlotte could've harmed Amanda, though she's horrified at herself and quickly dismisses the thought.
- Stealing the Credit: Shortly before her disappearance, Amanda designed and launched X-Dream, a line of stylish gym clothing with hidden pockets to keep the wearer's phone, iPod, keys etc. secure while they worked out. Meghan and Amanda came up with the original idea in college, sewing neoprene pockets into their work-out clothes, and when she went to work for Ladyform a few years later, Amanda expanded upon the idea and turned it into a successful clothing line. Meghan furiously confronted Amanda over it, insisting it was her idea first or that she should at least be co-credited. Amanda made it clear that Meghan didn't have a case because while they both identified the need for the product, the X-Dream line went through multiple stages of design, research and experimentation to reach the end product, which was accomplished solely by Amanda and her company. Meghan insists that after Amanda explained this to her, she calmed down and they made up, but Charlotte believes Meghan was still upset over it by the time of the wedding, especially considering X-Dream made Ladyform millions.
- Sympathetic Adulterer: It's revealed that the night Amanda disappeared, Kate and Henry got drunk and ended up sleeping together; both of them were already married to other people at the time. They had both married and had children quite young, Kate at the very least was uncertain she'd made the right decision and it was first time in a long while they'd been away from their spouses and kids, with things getting out of hand. They both deeply regret what happened and vowed never to speak of it again, remaining faithful to their spouses afterwards. Kate in particular is extremely guilt-ridden, even begging Laurie to cut her from the show out of fear of giving the affair away despite wanting to help Amanda. Aside from this one incident, they're both presented as decent people and as the tryst has nothing to do with Amanda's disappearance, Laurie agrees to never so much as hint at it in the finished episode.
- Those Two Guys: Jeff Hunter's two best friends, Austin Pratt and Nick Young, who were set to be his groomsmen, are rarely seen apart, even getting interviewed together for the show. They act as each other's wingman when they go out on the town looking for dates. They're both wealthy bachelors, though while Nick is considered quite the "hunk", Austin, as Grace bluntly puts it, "is lucky he's rich". Nick is also the more forward and domineering of the two, with Austin being more reserved. It's revealed the reason Nick frequently hangs out with Austin is because he doesn't see Austin as being as much of a 'threat' and to make himself look better in comparison.
- Time Skip: The prologue is set just over five years before the main events of the story, introducing us to Amanda forty-three hours before her ill-fated wedding was to take place; the epilogue takes place a month after the main story is wrapped up.
- Two-Timing with the Bestie: Discussed; Meghan was Amanda's best friend since college and was set to be her maid of honour, so a lot of people were shocked and scandalised when she ended up marrying Amanda's fiance just over a year after Amanda vanished. This led to rumours that Meghan and Jeff's relationship could've started before Amanda's disappearance and perhaps even played a part in it, especially given Meghan was already in love with Jeff. It turns out that Meghan and Jeff's relationship truly didn't become romantic until after Amanda vanished and while Amanda had been led to believe they'd had an affair, this was a lie. Meghan and Jeff are both aware it looks pretty bad, though.
- We Used to Be Friends: Jeff says that he was once incredibly close to his future in-laws, the Pierces; he called Sandra and Walter "Mom" and "Pops" respectively, Henry said he was like the brother he never had, and even Charlotte was friendly with him (which as Jeff himself points out is no small feat, given Charlotte's standoffishness and jealousy of Amanda). In the fall-out of Amanda disappearance though, her family cut Jeff off, with Sandra in particular being convinced Jeff had something to do with it. During filming, Sandra is frosty towards Jeff, while the others are polite but not friendly; after Amanda's body is found they can't even stand to be in the same restaurant as him. Jeff says it still feels strange to not know them anymore considering they were once like family. They make up in the ending after Jeff is revealed to be innocent.
- Wham Line: Just after wrapping-up Kate's interview, Laurie sees Sandra and Walter walking into the hotel lobby looking upset. Henry comes out after them and runs up to Laurie, telling her "Mom asked me to find you. The police said they found a body that they believe is Amanda's." Up until this point, it was still unconfirmed whether Amanda was killed or ran away, with this revelation nixing the latter possibility. It's also an unlikely coincidence that Amanda's body has finally turned up in the middle of a re-investigation into Amanda's disappearance.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The epilogue, set a month later on the night the "Runaway Bride" episode airs, confirms the fates of most of the main characters: Jeff Hunter and Meghan White are still happily married and have discovered they're expecting a girl, Kate Fulton and Henry Pierce's families still don't know about their one-night stand and Laurie has no interest in exposing them, Austin Pratt is announcing his engagement and intends to change his yacht's name from "Lonesome Dove" to "Lovebirds", Charlotte Pierce has unexpectedly become good friends with Laurie, it's implied that Walter and Sandra Pierce will get back together and Nick Young is in prison, charged with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder in three states.
- Widowed at the Wedding: A variation; Amanda Pierce vanished into thin air the day before her wedding, from the resort where the wedding was taking place, leaving behind her fiance Jeff Hunter. While some people think she just got cold feet and took off by herself, others - especially the mother of the bride - are convinced she was murdered, saying that Amanda wouldn't have just left like that even if she changed her mind about the marriage, nor would she go over five years without contacting any of her family and friends. Jeff says that as much as he wants to believe Amanda is still alive, he thinks something bad happened to her too. Some suspect that the groom himself was behind her disappearance because he stood to inherit Amanda's sizable trust fund, but if they broke up before the ceremony she would likely have changed her will. Jeff also went on to marry Amanda's maid of honour Meghan not even two years after she disappeared; some think Meghan could've been behind it to get Jeff for herself, or that they were in on it together. It's revealed that one Jeff's groomsmen murdered Amanda and attempted to frame Jeff, out of deep jealousy for his so-called best friend and resentment that Amanda rejected him romantically.
- Worst Wedding Ever: Jeff and Amanda's wedding went pretty badly given that it never actually took place, with the bride being discovered to be missing a day before the ceremony. Jeff and the wedding guests spent the day of the wedding helping the police search the grounds of the Grand Victoria Hotel and the surrounding area for Amanda, to no avail. For many of the people involved, it was one of the worst days of their lives and they continue to be haunted by not knowing what happened to Amanda. The lead up to the wedding wasn't exactly smooth-sailing either, with both Amanda and Jeff having doubts about going through with it, the maid of honour pining after the groom, jealousy, infidelity, a stalker wedding photographer and murder.
