My Wife Melissa — Francis Durbridge

When journalist Guy Foster comes home from Fleet Street after a depressing day, the last thing he wants to do is go out for the evening. So he tells his wife Melissa to go to the party with her friends, and settles down to write his novel in peace. It is the last time he will see her alive...

When Melissa is found strangled, all the evidence points to Guy: but he knows he is innocent, and someone is trying to frame him. Who telephoned Guy impersonating his dead wife, an hour after she was killed? Why does psychiatrist Dr. Swanson insist that Guy was his patient, when Guy has never seen the man before in his life? And what is the significance of Melissa's new hatbox? As the clues mount up, it soon becomes clear that Melissa was leading a double life -- and now it is up to Guy to uncover the truth about his wife and find her killer.