After I'm Gone

After I'm Gone by Laura Lippman

Five women love Felix Brewer. Now one of them is dead, and former homicide police detective, Roberto "Sandy" Sanchez is determined to uncover the truth after all these years....

When Bambi Gottschalk  meets Felix at a Valentine's Day dance in 1959, she immediately falls under his spell. He is not particularly handsome, rough around the edges, not at all what her parents envision for their only child. However, within months they are married, and Bambi begins to believe her husband's many outlandish promises. Yes, she knows that his business dealings are shady, but it makes life so much easier to put those thoughts in the back of her mind and enjoy all the material things Felix provides. He is a devoted father to their three daughters. He is a loyal friend to his lawyer and childhood friend, Bert. Unfortunately, another object of his dedication is the alluring Julie Saxony, his mistress.

Now Felix, facing prison, disappears into the night without a trace, leaving behind the women he loves. Bambi finds herself alone with financial woes and so many unanswered questions. Is Julie the recipient of all his money? Ten years to the day that Felix vanished, Julie also disappears. Everyone assumes the two have arranged a rendezvous. Then Julie's body is found in a secluded park, and Bambi and her daughters have theories as to who committed the crime. Theories they hide from one another. The murder remains unsolved until twenty-six years later when Sandy Sanchez, a lonely former cop, decides to re-open the cold case of Julie's demise. With each step he takes back in time, a story begins to unravel of greed, family secrets, jealously and bitterness. A complicated tale emerges of the women who love and adore one  man; women who are ultimately loyal to one another when all is said and done.

The chapters in this novel alternate over a span of  fifty years. A wide cast of characters provide the reader with many credible suspects in Julie's murder. It is a fun, fast-paced mystery filled with intricate details and clues. So many lies and suspicions; this story is a tangled web just waiting to be solved.

You'll have to wait until the very end to uncover the truth.  And of course finally discover...

What really happened to Felix Brewer?