DEATH OF AN EX

Queenstown, New Jersey, investigator Evander Myrick gets dragged into a posh reception and then dragged into a murder that strikes closer to home than most of her closest friends know.

Ingrid Ramírez, who’d hired Vandy 18 months ago though she’s still a high school student, now wants her company at the Rome School homecoming gala. Vandy, who’s Black, can’t see much of an upside to an evening spent with white folks intent on proclaiming and protecting their privileges, especially once Ingrid reveals that she’s dumped Ethan Cho, who’s now off at Stanford, for Rome athlete and art student Tariq. Since closemouthed Ingrid doesn’t mention Tariq’s last name, it’s not until the reception that Vandy realizes he’s the son of philandering entrepreneur Philip Bolden, who was married to her for 13 months two decades ago, and who turns out to be the guest of honor at the festivities. Vandy and Phil’s first meeting since their divorce is distinctly awkward, but not too awkward to prevent Vandy from inviting Phil into her bed that night. Shortly after he leaves in the early morning hours, he’s shot to death, a development that will surprise only readers who’ve forgotten the title. Going over the head of Officer Lola Conte, one of the few locals who knows that she and Phil had been married, Vandy talks police Chief Robert Sayre into letting her run the part of the investigation that focuses on the Rome School, and that’s where all the bodies turn out to be buried. Pitts works so assiduously to knit Vandy’s detective work together with her self-imposed mandate to heal the most vulnerable members of her community that the healing work continues even after Phil’s murderer is identified.

Sleuthing as therapy for an economically and racially divided New Jersey town.