"Ayelet Waldman has given birth to a fresh new franchise with her Mommy-Track mysteries. Juliet Applebaum is smart, fearless, and completely candid about life as a full-time mom with a penchant for part-time detective work."--Sue Grafton A public defender turned stay-at-home mom, Juliet Applebaum is bored with playdates and trips to the park--so near the end of her second pregnancy, she gets off the mommy track to track down a murderer. . . . Juliet isn't too surprised when her feisty, tantrum-throwing two-year old daughter doesn't get into Hollywood's premier preschool--but she's shocked and suspicious when the school's principal is killed in a hit-and-run accident. Against the advice of her screenwriter husband, and with her rambunctious toddler in tow, Juliet heads to the local playground to dig up some dirt on a disgruntled studio executive whose daughter wasn't offered a place in the school. But she has some surprising new suspects to consider when her investigation takes her into a seedy on-line newsgroup--and the most dangerous parts of the human heart. " Juliet is] a lot like Elizabeth Peters's warm and humorous Amelia Peabody--a brassy, funny, quick-witted protagonist."-- Houston Chronicle

From the national bestselling author of Murder Plays House . For private-eye-cum-supermom Juliet Applebaum, business is booming. But there are pros and cons to every assignment. And the con in her latest job is her client, an inmate at Dartmore Prison. She's enlisted Juliet to locate the son she surrendered--as well as the foster parents who've disappeared with him. But this case takes a deadly detour when the desperate young mother is fatally stabbed--allegedly by another inmate. Prison officials dismiss the murder as just one more fatality in lockdown. But Juliet has her doubts. Now she's determined to make the woman's last wish come true, even if it means tracking little Noah--and the killer--through the dark maze of a widespread conspiracy. "A master of smart, snappy repartee." -- Kirkus Reviews "[A] unique, highly likable sleuth." --Judith Kelman "A brassy, funny, quick-witted protagonist."-- Houston Chronicle

From the national bestselling author of The Big Nap and Nursery Crimes. In between planning playdates and playing dress up, Juliet finally gets some much-needed kid-free time, working out at the local health club. It's going well. She's losing weight. She's even happy --until her personal trainer commits suicide. A cheerful aspiring actor, Bobby Katz seemed to have it all--and Juliet can't believe he died at his own hand. She suspects there's a more sinister explanation--and that it may lie with his grieving fiancée, a recovering addict who just fell off the wagon. Or with his birth mother, a woman he recently started to look for. Always up for a task that will get her out of the house, Juliet keeps running down secrets--until, at last, she runs into the truth. "Smoothly paced and smartly told."-- The New York Times Book Review "Sparkling . . . swift and engaging."-- Publishers Weekly "Juliet's got charm, spunk, and . . . a reason to get out of the house."-- Kirkus Reviews

Juliet Applebaum is a public defender turned stay-at-home mom—and a “highly likable sleuth” (Judith Kelman). Now in Murder Plays House, with a new arrival on the way, the Applebaum household is bursting at the seams. And Juliet is balancing clue-chasing and diaper-changing with a new task: house-hunting. Juliet loves her kids. She loves their dirty little faces and skinned knees. She loves the ridiculous and amazing things they say. But when three-and-a-half year old Isaac evicts her husband and her from their own bed one night, love is the last thing on her mind. Juliet now recognizes the need for a few changes…starting with a bigger house. And when the new baby arrives, they’ll welcome the extra space. But if there’s ever a bad time to search for a new house in L.A., it’s now. In a buyer- un friendly real estate market, one practically has to kill to find an affordable home. No wonder Juliet is prepared to overlook a corpse on the grounds of her would-be dream house. To salve her conscience—and get her foot literally in the front door—she vows to find the killer of the homeowner’s sister. The investigation leads her from the madness of house-hunting into a world of washed-up actors and canceled TV shows, a world more depraved than she could ever have imagined. “Smoothly paced and smartly told.”— The New York Times Book Review “Think Chinatown , but with strollers and morning sickness.”— Long Island Press