After I'm Gone

Finished April 9
After I'm Gone by Laura Lippman, performed by Linda Emond

This mystery is set in the Baltimore area. In 2012, Roberto "Sandy" Sanchez, a retired cop now doing consultant work on cold cases, pulls out the case of Julie Saxony. In 1976, Julie was a stripper working in a club owned by Felix Brewer. She was also his mistress. When Felix, facing prison for some of his activities, disappears in 1976, he leaves behind not only Julie, but also his wife Bernadette "Bambi", and his three children, Linda, 17, Rachel, 14, and Michelle, 3. He also transfers the ownership of his cafe to Julie.
As the years go by, Julie has transformed herself into a businesswoman and, by 1986, owns an inn and is on the verge of opening a restaurant. Then, she disappears with no notice. People wonder, did she go to join Felix or did something happen to her? When her decomposed body is found in 2001 in a wooded park near the Brewer house in Baltimore the trail has gone cold, and the case went cold. Hence, Sandy's work now.
As Sandy goes over the evidence, talking to everyone whose name was in the file, and reinterviewing all the players, he awakens old resentments and memories, and possibly more.
We see Bambi, Julie, Linda, Rachel, and Michelle at various points in the intervening years, learning their stories and their experiences that brought them to the present day. This is a complex situation and there are lots of secrets that have been kept for years.
This is a story that reveals things slowly, gradually, and it creeps toward the final story inexorably. A very nice plot.