A Mommy-Track Mystery Series

Brilliantly witty mystery from the author of Bad Mother and Love and Treasure…

Teeter-tottering on the brink of sanity, Juliet Applebaum not only solves crimes; she does it with diapers, bottles, and…oh yes, three kids in tow. This time she’ll play hide-and-seek with some of South Central’s seediest denizens. But this is no child’s play…

Their fledgling detective agency has spread its wings—and now husband-and-wife team Juliet Applebaum and Al Hockey, once in the hole, are finally flying high. A Hollywood lawyer uses them regularly to clean up after some of his less-than-discreet celeb clients. They see people come through the doors of their garage-turned-office, seeking defense investigation. They also see insurance investigation cases. But Juliet and Al are about to find out: they ain’t seen nothin’ yet…

Heavenly has come to Juliet with a story too sad for any detective with a conscience to turn down. Her sister, an addict and streetwalker, has turned up dead—and the police couldn’t care less. With any luck—and with plucky Juliet doing all she can—Heavenly will learn what she can about her sister’s death and, if possible, bring the killer to justice. But it’s hard going undercover when you’re a tall, gorgeous transsexual…

Ayelet Waldman, a Harvard Law School graduate and former public defender, is the author of Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, Daughter’s Keeper, and Red Hook Road as well as the Mommy-Track Mysteries, including such titles as Death Gets a Time-Out and A Playdate with Death.
 

Don’t miss the acclaimed mystery series from the author of Bad Mother…

The investigative business is booming for Juliet Applebaum and her husband Peter, but their new client, incarcerated in Dartmore State Prison, is going to be a real challenge. Sandra Lorgeree has enlisted Juliet to locate the son she surrendered to foster care—as well as the foster parents who seem to have disappeared with him. But Juliet’s new case takes a deadly detour when the desperate young mother is knifed to death—allegedly by another inmate.

Prison officials dismiss the murder as just one more fatality in lockdown. Juliet has her doubts. Now Juliet is determined to make Sandra’s last wish come true. Even if it means tracking little Noah—and the killer—through the dark maze of a widespread conspiracy. And even if it winds up pitting her against some very wealthy, powerful, and dangerous enemies….

Ayelet Waldman is a graduate of Harvard Law School and a former public defender. In addition to the Mommy-Track series that includes such titles as Death Gets a Time-Out and The Big Nap, she is the author of Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, Daughter’s Keeper, and other books.

Juliet Applebaum is a public defender turned stay-at-home mom—and a “highly likable sleuth” (Judith Kelman). Now in Murder Plays House, with a new arrival on the way, the Applebaum household is bursting at the seams. And Juliet is balancing clue-chasing and diaper-changing with a new task: house-hunting.
 
Juliet loves her kids. She loves their dirty little faces and skinned knees. She loves the ridiculous and amazing things they say. But when three-and-a-half year old Isaac evicts her husband and her from their own bed one night, love is the last thing on her mind. Juliet now recognizes the need for a few changes…starting with a bigger house. And when the new baby arrives, they’ll welcome the extra space.
 
But if there’s ever a bad time to search for a new house in L.A., it’s now. In a buyer-unfriendly real estate market, one practically has to kill to find an affordable home. No wonder Juliet is prepared to overlook a corpse on the grounds of her would-be dream house. To salve her conscience—and get her foot literally in the front door—she vows to find the killer of the homeowner’s sister. The investigation leads her from the madness of house-hunting into a world of washed-up actors and canceled TV shows, a world more depraved than she could ever have imagined.
 
“Smoothly paced and smartly told.”—The New York Times Book Review
 
“Think Chinatown, but with strollers and morning sickness.”—Long Island Press

Between juggling lunchboxes, piano lessons, and baby-sitters, public defender turned stay-at-home mom Juliet Applebaum promises to help her famous friend clear her brother’s name of murder. But what will she do when she begins to suspect her friend may not be as innocent as she seems?

Smart, witty mystery from the author of Bad Mother and Love and Treasure…

Public defender turned stay-at-home mom Juliet Applebaum is a “smart and fearless” (Sue Grafton) sleuth whose previous adventures have been praised as “compelling” (Publishers Weekly) and “entertaining” (Booklist). In A Playdate with Death, she’s back in top form—taming tantrums, battling boredom, chasing clues…

No one ever said motherhood was a walk in the park, but Juliet Applebaum is doing her best. She’s been showing up (more or less) on time to pick up her daughter from preschool. She’s trying (in vain) to discourage her two-and-a-half-year-old son’s interest in firearms. And in between planning playdates and playing dress up, she’s even managed to fit in some much-needed kid-free time, working out with a personal trainer at the local health club. It’s going well. She’s losing weight. She’s even happy—until her trainer commits suicide.

A charming, cheerful aspiring actor, Bobby Katz seemed to have it all—and Juliet just can’t believe he died at his own hand. She suspects that there’s a much more sinister explanation—and that it may lie with Bobby’s parents, who never told him he was adopted. Or with his grieving fiancee, a recovering addict who just fell off the wagon. Or with his birth mother, a woman he had recently started to look for—who had gone to great lengths to ensure that she would never be found. Always up for a task that will get her out of the house, Juliet keeps running down secrets—until, at last, she runs into the truth…

Ayelet Waldman is the author of Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, Red Hook Road, Daughter’s Keeper, and other acclaimed works, as well as the Mommy-Track Mysteries, including such titles as The Big Nap and Death Gets a Time-Out.

Welcome back to the exasperating world of Juliet Applebaum, a public defender turned sleep-deprived stay-at-home mom—and “a unique, highly likable sleuth” (Judith Kelman).
 
When her infant son’s beautiful young Chasidic babysitter vanishes, Juliet can’t help wondering if the girl was fleeing something even scarier than her screaming, squalling charge. Like her upcoming arranged marriage, maybe? It’s certainly possible. Or perhaps something much more sinister has occurred. Why else would her family be so reluctant to call in the police?
 
To find out the truth, Juliet, with her over-tired kids in tow, will have to travel from her havoc-filled home in Los Angeles to a Chasidic encalve in Brooklyn. In search of answers. In pursuit of justice. And in desperate need of a big, long nap.
 
“Amusing but poignant…Waldman has given her heroine a compelling story befitting her intelligent, witty voice.”—Publishers Weekly
 
“Waldman is a master of smart, snappy repartee.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Smart sleuthing…the way [Juliet] maintains her sense of humor while juggling detective chores and baby duty is awesome.”—The New York Times

A public defender turned Stay-at-home mom, Juliet Applebaum is bored with playdates and trips to the park—so near the end of her second pregnancy, she gets off the mommy track to track down a murderer….

Juliet isn’t too surprised when her feisty, tantrum-throwing two-year-old daughter doesn’t get into Hollywood’s premier preschool—but she’s shocked and suspicious when the school’s principal is killed in a hit-and-run accident. Against the advice of her screenwriter husband, and with her rambunctious toddler in tow, Juliet heads to the local playground to dig up some dirt on a disgruntled studio executive whose daughter wasn’t offered a place in the school. But she has some surprising new suspects to consider when her investigation takes her into a seedy on-line newsgroup—and the most dangerous parts of the human heart….

“[Juliet is] a lot like Elizabeth Peters’s warm and humorous Amelia Peabody—a brassy, funny, quick-witted protagonist.”—The Houston Chronicle