The Late, Lamented Molly Marx by Sally Koslow (2009, Hardcover)

We meet Molly Divine Marx as she is looking on at her own funeral. We see her husband, Barry, her best friend, Brie, her daughter, Annabel, her beloved parents, and her fraternal twin sister, Lucy.

The book bounces back and forth between Molly looking on as Detective Hiawatha Hicks tries to solve her case, and Molly's remembrances of being alive.

We slowly find out about her life and about her death.

We knew right away that Barry wasn't the best husband, but Molly also had some questionable choices--namely, a handsome co-worker named Luke.

The pace is kept well, the writing beautiful, and the characters all well-rounded.

My only complaint is the ending. Molly is in the Duration (Heaven) and that isn't an easy subject to deal with; however, by the time the reader learns what truly happened to Molly to cause her death, the book fast forwards 20 years then ends.

It left me to wonder if I'd want to be looking on to family members after I'm in -wherever- and at a certain point, wouldn't it be kind of boring? Like my great great great great grandchildren...?

I loved 98% of the book, until the end. Nobody really gets their just desserts and a lot of it is contrived. It seemed like it was heading in such a great direction, that I think Sally Koslow missed the mark. Or Marx.