Death of a Butterfly — Margaret Maron

DETECTIVE SIGRID HARALD, NYPD
Lt. Sigrid Harald's fellow cops say she has ice water in her veins. To be sure, when it comes to murder, this lady is one cool customer.

DEATH OF A BUTTERFLY
A young mother is found brutally bludgeoned on the kitchen tiles of her stylish apartment. But her tragic death only highlights the scars this beautiful but cold, self-centered, and demanding woman left on those still alive. For as Lieutenant Harald quickly discovers, more than one person had a motive for killing Julie Redmond... her ex-husband and his girlfriend, unable to marry while Julie was alive ... her childless next-door neighbors, who gave Julie's son the love she never could... her criminally adept brother, whose relationship with his sister was strictly hate-hate....

Now Sigrid must unravel a tangled web of hurt to find the one strand of pain raw enough to lead to murder....