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A Mystery
by Delia Pitts
With Trouble in Queenstown, Delia Pitts introduces private investigator Vandy Myrick in a powerful mystery that blends grief, class, race, and family with thrilling results.
Evander "Vandy" Myrick became a cop to fulfill her father's expectations. After her world cratered, she became a private eye to satisfy her own. Now she's back in Queenstown, New Jersey, her childhood home, in search of solace and recovery. It's a small community of nine thousand souls crammed into twelve square miles, fenced by cornfields, warehouses, pharma labs, and tract housing. As a Black woman, privacy is hard to come by in "Q-Town," and worth guarding.
For Vandy, that means working plenty of divorce cases. They're nasty, lucrative, and fun in an unwholesome way. To keep the cash flowing and expand her local contacts, Vandy agrees to take on a new client, the mayor's nephew, Leo Hannah. Leo wants Vandy to tail his wife to uncover evidence for a divorce suit.
At first the surveillance job seems routine, but Vandy soon realizes there's trouble beneath the bland surface of the case when a racially charged murder with connections to the Hannah family rocks Q-Town. Fingers point. Clients appear. Opposition to the inquiry hardens. And Vandy's sight lines begin to blur as her determination to uncover the truth deepens. She's a minor league PI with few friends and no resources. Logic pegs her chances of solving the case between slim and hell no. But logic isn't her strong suit. Vandy won't back off.
"A [S]tandout series launch ... With an indelible lead and a richly rendered setting, Pitts sets this series up for success. Readers will be eager for the next installment." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A darkly atmospheric debut whose heroine just might want to reconsider her decision not to carry a gun next time." —Kirkus Reviews
"The author of the 'Ross Agency Mysteries' introduces another damaged character in an intriguing private eye story that examines family and roots." —Library Journal
"Offers everything that fans of detective fiction are looking for... Pitts has written a strong narrative that ricochets from Vandy's tragic past to her gutsy present, keeping readers totally engaged to the very last page…and eager for more." —First Clue
"Practically leaps off the page to grab you by the throat. What a masterful writer. What a ride, what a PI, what a book. Welcome to Queenstown, folks. More, please!" ―Tracy Clark
"Starts off with a bang and draws you in more and more with each passing chapter ... I already can't wait for Vandy's next case." ―Kellye Garrett
"Evander 'Vandy' Myrick is the beating heart of this story–a bold, kick-ass private eye. I'm all in―I'd follow Vandy anywhere." ―Samantha Jayne Allen
This information about Trouble in Queenstown was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Delia Pitts worked as a journalist before earning a Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago. After careers as a U.S. diplomat and university administrator, she left academia to begin writing fiction. Trouble in Queenstown is the first book in a new mystery series featuring Black private investigator Vandy Myrick. Delia is also the author of the Ross Agency Mysteries, about a Harlem detective firm, and several short stories. She's a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and Crime Writers of Color.
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