The Last Mrs. Parrish

Lana Crump stole the identity of a missing girl named Amber Patterson prior to the events of the novel. The reader spends most of the book knowing this character as Amber. She is a criminal and a con artist, although the details of her crimes are not brought to light until the novel’s conclusion. Amber begins the novel appearing unattractive and unassuming. She wears clothes that are unflattering and dowdy. Jackson says of her: “dirty-dishwater hair, the ugly glasses, and don’t get me started on her lack of fashion sense” (322). She wears little makeup. Her appearance is carefully created so that she may get close to Daphne without arousing suspicion, believing that if she is unattractive, Daphne will not suspect her true motives. After Amber begins working for Jackson, she undergoes a makeover. She dyes her hair ash blonde, begins wearing makeup, and has her teeth whitened.

Amber quickly is established as one of the main antagonists of the novel. She first connects with Daphne by pretending she has a sister who died of the same disease Daphne’s did. Her lies escalate until she pretends to have been sexually harassed by her boss and sexually assaulted by her father and a past lover, all to get closer to Jackson.