Death of an Ex: A Vandy Myrick Mystery

New Jersey PI Vandy Myrick probes the murder of her ex-husband in Pitts’s satisfying sequel to Trouble in Queenstown. When Vandy agrees to accompany her former client, prep school teacher Ingrid Ramírez, to an annual homecoming banquet, she doesn’t expect to bump into her estranged ex, Philip Bolden (or as she calls him, “Philandering Phil”). Nor does she expect to be so torn up about seeing him shine as the chair of the school’s board of trustees and husband of the guidance counselor. The next morning, police find Phil’s dead body near Vandy’s office, leaving her little choice but to figure out who’s responsible. In the 20 years since the couple’s divorce, Phil had become the CEO of a successful real estate company; the more Vandy digs into its operations, the longer her list of suspects gets. Vandy, who is marked but not defined by her grief over her daughter’s early death, is an uncommonly well-shaded mystery heroine. Throw in Pitts’s knack for scene setting and her sharp observations about race and class, and this series seems poised for a long run. (July)