A Playdate With Death
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
Smart, witty mystery from the author of Bad Mother and Love and Treasure...
Public defender turned stay-at-home mom Juliet Applebaum is a “smart and fearless” (Sue Grafton) sleuth whose previous adventures have been praised as “compelling” (Publishers Weekly) and “entertaining” (Booklist). In A Playdate with Death, she’s back in top form—taming tantrums, battling boredom, chasing clues…
No one ever said motherhood was a walk in the park, but Juliet Applebaum is doing her best. She’s been showing up (more or less) on time to pick up her daughter from preschool. She’s trying (in vain) to discourage her two-and-a-half-year-old son’s interest in firearms. And in between planning playdates and playing dress up, she’s even managed to fit in some much-needed kid-free time, working out with a personal trainer at the local health club. It’s going well. She’s losing weight. She’s even happy—until her trainer commits suicide.
A charming, cheerful aspiring actor, Bobby Katz seemed to have it all—and Juliet just can’t believe he died at his own hand. She suspects that there’s a much more sinister explanation—and that it may lie with Bobby’s parents, who never told him he was adopted. Or with his grieving fiancee, a recovering addict who just fell off the wagon. Or with his birth mother, a woman he had recently started to look for—who had gone to great lengths to ensure that she would never be found. Always up for a task that will get her out of the house, Juliet keeps running down secrets—until, at last, she runs into the truth…
Ayelet Waldman is the author of Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, Red Hook Road, Daughter's Keeper, and other acclaimed works, as well as the Mommy-Track Mysteries, including such titles as The Big Nap and Death Gets a Time-Out.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The challenges of motherhood don't hold a candle to the challenge of sleuthing for Juliet Applebaum, the heroine of Waldman's third sparkling "mommy-track" mystery (Nursery Crimes; The Big Nap). Once an L.A. assistant district attorney, now a "somewhat unwilling stay-at-home mom," Juliet uses her legal skills to look into the death of Bobby Katz, her personal trainer. The police write it off as a suicide, but no one close to Bobby, including his fianc e, Betsy, a recovering (barely) drug addict, and his uptight parents, believes that theory. Juliet juggles investigating the case with parenting her two small children, the still-breast-feeding Isaac and his older sister, Ruby. The swift and engaging plot revolves around questions of heredity and genetics. Juliet's palpable, refreshingly honest dislike for the mundane realities of parenting should resonate with many. Juliet is more mom than detective, but there's a sense she wishes it were the other way around. If much of the author's spin on the "joys" of motherhood is familiar, in one interesting thread Juliet tries to fathom her son's desire for a toy gun. Later there's a neat contradiction when Juliet goes to a range and discovers she likes shooting. This witty and well-constructed novel probably won't satisfy serious crime fans who expect passion and intensity (though some minor characters display plenty), but those with a taste for lighter mystery fare are sure to relish the adventures of this contemporary, married, mother-of-two Nancy Drew.
