Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman

Maddie has decided she wants to do something big and important, not just be a housewife and mother.  So she walks away from her marriage, rents an apartment, and starts trying to find a job.  She feels a little regret but she also wants to make her mark in life, not just be invisible.  But finding a job is hard with no work experience and at almost 40...

William Morrow and Edelweiss let me read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published July 23.

When a young woman doesn't come one night, it becomes a missing case.  After so many days, she's assumed dead, but no body has been found.  Maddie and her friend are walking home when Maddie takes on another path.  It was where she used to go with boys when she was younger.  She and her friend find the body everyone is looking for and they call the police.  They try to remain anonymous but their names get out.  When a reporter questions Maddie, she suddenly thinks maybe that would be a good job for her.

She visits him at work and asks if he can help her get a job.  She does get a job, but it's as a helper with the man that handles consumer complaints.  She asks why no one has looked for the other missing woman.  It's because she was black.  She decides to look for her.  Maybe this could be her big story.

She talks to her family members, her boss, and to anyone who knew her.  The closer to the truth she gets, the more dangerous it is.

When she opens a letter about burnt out lights at a fountain in town, she call the public works department and asks them to replace them.  They do and they find the dead Negro girl.  That's two dead bodies she's located now.

She does solve the murder mystery but she almost dies as she gets the story.

This was a well written story showing racial prejudice and lack of good police work because nobody cared if a black woman died.  Not that they were doing a great job finding the white girl's killer either.  This is one that makes you think.