This is the SECOND book in the Bruce Kohler mystery series by Agatha- and Derringer- Award nominee Elizabeth Zelvin.
New Yorker Bruce Kohler, clean and sober for almost 10 months, is startled awake one rainy autumn night by a jolting phone call from his friend, Barbara. It seems her Al-Anon sponsee, Luz, came home to find her abusive boyfriend stabbed to death on the kitchen floor of her East Harlem apartment. Bruce and his best friend Jimmy (Barbara’s main squeeze) are curious, yet happy to leave it at a mob hit/drug deal gone bad. But Barbara, in classic codependent form, just can’t seem to mind her own business.
The trio takes a ride through the twists and turns of New York City in search of the killer, with Bruce all the while fielding booty calls mixed with pleas for help from his ex-wife Laura. But Laura’s hooked on Mac, who might be the death of her. Death Will Help You Leave Him is an over-the-top yet utterly believable depiction of mental illness and recovery, mixed in with a thrilling mystery that brings new meaning to the old adage “laughter is the best medicine.”
