Maggie Terry

Although it features a murder mystery, Schulman’s successful novel (after The Cosmopolitans) is less a whodunit and more an exploration of drug and alcohol addiction. Ex-NYPD detective Maggie Terry is just out of rehab after 15 years of alcohol and cocaine addiction. Her addiction cost her a career and her relationship with her partner, Frances, and daughter, Alina—and now Maggie is unmoored, adrift, and desperate to establish sobriety and stability in her life. And she bears tremendous guilt over the death of her detective partner—her addiction having played a role in his death. She now has a second chance as an in-house private detective for a small law firm. To avoid a Broadway show-business scandal, a well-known actress hires the firm to investigate the murder of an actress in the show. Little detective work is actually done, however, as Maggie lurches from Narcotics Anonymous meetings to stalking her former lover, wracked with self-doubt and craving a drink or a line of coke. Readers shouldn’t go in expecting a fast-paced mystery, but Schulman delivers a vivid depiction of Maggie’s addiction, punctuated by the gritty New York City setting. (Sept.)