The Self-Made Widow
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
From the cocreator of Deadpool and author of Suburban Dicks comes a diabolically funny murder mystery that features two unlikely sleuths investigating a murder that reveals the dark underbelly of suburban marriage.
After mother of five and former FBI profiler Andie Stern solved a murder—and unraveled a decades-old conspiracy—in her New Jersey town, both her husband and the West Windsor police hoped that she would set aside crime-fighting and go back to carpools, changing diapers, and lunches with her group of mom-friends, who she secretly calls The Cellulitists. Even so, Andie can’t help but get involved when the husband of Queen Bee Molly Goode is found dead. Though all signs point to natural causes, Andie begins to dig into the case and soon risks more than just the clique’s wrath, because what she discovers might hit shockingly close to home.
Meanwhile, journalist Kenny Lee is enjoying a rehabilitated image after his success as Andie’s sidekick. But when an anonymous phone call tips him off that Molly Goode killed her husband, he’s soon drawn back into the thicket of suburban scandals, uncovering secrets, affairs, and a huge sum of money. Hellbent on justice and hoping not to kill each other in the process, Andie and Kenny dust off their suburban sleuthing caps once again.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Nicieza's uneven sequel to 2021's Suburban Dicks opens with the death of New Jersey lawyer Derek Goode, who collapses in his backyard while his wife, Molly, looks on passively and smiles. Andrea Stern, a friend of Molly's who visits her soon afterward, observes that the new widow "looked as upset by her husband's death as she might have been by running late for a class at YogaSoul." Andrea, an "investigative savant" who cracked unsolved crimes, including serial murder, before graduating college, had her dreams of joining the FBI derailed by her first pregnancy. Now, she juggles five kids with assisting the West Windsor police as a consultant. Her suspicions about Molly are bolstered when Kenny Lee, a journalist who worked with Andrea on a previous case, gets an anonymous call accusing the widow of murder, despite the coroner's conclusion that a preexisting heart condition was the cause of death. Andrea and Kenny again join forces to uncover the truth. The plot twists aren't remarkable, and Nicieza doesn't make any of the characters more than types. Fans of suburban-set mysteries will likely be disappointed.
