Frequently referred to as a mystery thriller, this novel is about so much more than an unsolved crime. Everything you never told me takes place in the 1970s, in small-town, mid-western America and tells the story of a mixed race marriage. James is a Chinese-American professor that has always felt like an outsider and Helen is the white wife and mother of three, frustrated by societal norms, demands of family and haunted by her abandoned dreams of becoming a doctor. The book opens with their middle child, daughter Lydia, found dead in the town lake. The story unfolds through the voices of each family member, including Lydia, and reveals a dysfunctional family grappling with grief, secrets, unmet expectations and regret.