The Consolation Bride by Val McDermid
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The Consolation Bride is found in the anthology, The Adventure of the Missing Detective. It is written in first person. The narrator is a writer named John who attended an awards banquet. He was positive he was going to win an award for his book, but he didn’t. His publisher and others who helped with the book escorted him out of the room. They went to another room where he met a woman named Cassie. They chatted for a long time about different things except for his book and who won the award. He didn’t want to discuss that. Later on, he was relieved that they could talk because he hadn’t thought about his book and losing the award. They ended up going to his room and talked. She wanted to give him a back rub. The next day, John called her and wanted to get together again, but she told him no because he was married, and she didn’t become involved in affairs. He told her he wasn’t married even though it said he was on the book jackets. She didn’t believe him. Now, you’ll have to read the story to find out what happened.

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