Until She Comes Home

Roy follows her Edgar-winning debut, Bent Road, with a moody, tension-filled tale of intertwined crimes set in late 1950s Detroit. The placid lives of Malina Herze, Julia Wagner, Grace Richardson, and the other women of Alder Avenue are upended, first by the murder of a “colored” woman near the factory where their husbands work, then by the disappearance of Elizabeth Symanski, a mentally challenged young adult who lives with her widowed father. While Malina, Julia, Grace, and the others discuss these disturbing events in their living rooms and kitchens, their menfolk search for Elizabeth. Julia’s nieces, Izzy and Arie, are told to remain indoors, but, in their boredom, the girls begin to explore the neighborhood and naturally find trouble. Under these pressures, problems old and new rise to the surface and lives are irrevocably changed. This well-written period piece may appeal more to readers of women’s fiction than mystery fans. Agent: Jenny Bent, the Bent Agency. (June)