Sweet Man Is Gone — Peggy Ehrhart

Blues-singer Maxx Maxwell is smart, talented, and gorgeous--at least since she had her nose fixed, went blonde, and bought a push-up bra. So what if she's living in a scruffy apartment in Hackensack, New Jersey, and the waitress job she's taken to make ends meet is driving her crazy? Her band, Maxximum Blues, is really taking off, thanks to the talents of guitarist Jimmy Nashville, a heartbreakingly handsome guy whose life is complicated by an assortment of girlfriends.

But then Jimmy plunges to his death from the window of his ninth-floor apartment. His death intensifies tensions already simmering in the band, and Maxx fears her dream of making it as a singer might just as well be dead too. Besides, she has to admit that, though she was trying to resist his charm, she was as smitten with Jimmy as were the other women in his life.

When Jimmy's death is ruled suicide, Maxx resolves to go sleuthing on her own.

Cozy but cool, Sweet Man Is Gone features a quirky cast of characters that include a skeptical cop and an assortment of eccentric musicians. Maxx's quest, played out against a backdrop of blues and Manhattan bar bands, uncovers a surprising number of people who had reason to kill Jimmy, and it takes her deep into Jimmy's mysterious past.

The plot, with its surprising and dramatic climax, will keep readers guessing until the last few pages.