I am looking for the location and name of a Sci-fi story , I think
published in a magazine or collection, about a man who thought his
wife was replaced bt a doppelganger

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 17 Aug 2004 11:27 PDT

This is a common theme in science fiction. Can you recall any details
about the story?

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Clarification of Question by mtmk01-ga on 23 Aug 2004 09:30 PDT

In the story, the man and wife were at a party, and the wife lit a
cigarette.  The husband was suspicious because his wife did not smoke.

This question seems to have expired, but I think I found the answer:
the story is "Save As" by Michael Marshall Smith, and it appeared in
the January 1997 issue of Interzone.

I did a Google search for "doppelganger wife smoke party science
fiction" and found the following paragraph at the following address:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/mrkelly/col9703.htm

"Elsewhere in the [January 1997 issue of <i>Interzone</i>] is a story
by Michael Marshall Smith, a popular horror writer who also has an
interview this issue. "Save As" concerns a man who has a dreadful
traffic accident one evening that kills his wife and child. Leaving
the hospital he heads for the office of Same Again to fulfill his
emergency contract. Soon he?s arriving home with his family, arranging
a party with friends, and living a normal life...except for small
details that don?t seem right--he sees his wife lighting a cigarette,
for instance, and realizes that she never used to smoke. The story is
effective in the gradual setting in of alarm and dislocation, but
vague in addressing the sort of practical questions one would expect
of an SF story. Compared to John Varley?s stories of keeping backup
copies of one?s mind, for example, in Smith?s story it?s unclear
exactly what?s being backed-up--reality itself?"