The Last Housewife

Jon Katz's suburban detective series featuring Christopher "Kit" DeLeeuw are notable for his perceptive vision of life in suburbia, and how crimes affect the day to day living of the inhabitants of Rochambeau, NJ. This time Kit finds himself looking into the murder of a feminist-driven high school principal who has apparently been murdered by a stay at home Mom who has been dubbed "The Last Housewife." Seems that the principal was going to suspend the housewife's son for sexual harassment at the school. As Kit takes on the case, he finds himself confronted by some really despicable teenage boys and has to take a look at his own family values. This series is well done, and although Katz at times spends a little too much time in his discussion of suburban life, the novels he writes are involving and the procedurals well thought out. This is one of the better of the series, and I recommend it for discretionary readers.

Kit Deleeuw is a husband, father, and detective, aptly described by his occasional nemesis as "a Volvo type of guy." In marked contrast to the better known Philip Marlowe, a loner who once inventoried his possessions as "a coat, a hat, and a gun," Kit confronts suburban depravity wielding a family, a mortgage, and a payroll. He votes Democrat, subscribes to "Private Investigator" magazine, and can talk intelligently about feminism. Most of his clients are tougher than he is. If Kit keeps an office bottle, you can be sure it's stocked with ibuprofen or antacid, rather than whiskey. In other words, Kit is a gumshoe up to his dishpan hands in a homicide case, but seems more like the mild-mannered captain of a neighborhood watch program. By his own admission, he loves Raymond Chandler talk, and seldom uses it. He can't sell his wife on his client's innocence or remember the difference between a rifle and a shotgun. Fortunately, "The Last Housewife," an entertaining yarn and a meditation on the state of the American family, also offers clues to the mystery of how such a sensitive man avoids milquetoast passivity to become the scourge of criminals in Rochambeau, New Jersey. Kit is loyal and smart, with a keen sense of his own limitations and a knack for making friends in the right places. Reading about him and the other characters in in this smoothly plotted story won't pull any muscles in your head, but does bestow the honest pleasure of cheering for good people while they wrestle with human and systemic failure.

I truly enjoyed this good natured detective who takes care of the house, kids, wife, and dog and still finds time to save a woman from certain conviction for a crime she did not commit. All of the characters introduced in the book are charming and I took to them immediately. The local dog walkers, the former attorney turned hamburger shop owner, the police chief and jaded police detective, all make great foils and helpers to the book's hero. My only complaint was that I did not get to know Kit Deleeuw's wife very well. She's of course very busy earning the real money in the family, but I would like to see more interaction with her in future books. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys books like "The Cat Who...." series since I feel some of the same wonderful energy here. ENJOY