Book ~ "The Kind Worth Saving" (2023) Peter Swanson

From Goodreads ~ There was always something slightly dangerous about Joan. So when she turns up at private investigator Henry Kimball’s office asking him to investigate her husband, he can’t help feeling ill at ease. Just the sight of her stirs up a chilling memory: he knew Joan in his previous life as a high school English teacher, when he was at the center of a tragedy.

Now Joan needs his help in proving that her husband is cheating. But what should be a simple case of infidelity becomes much more complicated when Kimball finds two bodies in an uninhabited suburban home with a “for sale” sign out front. Suddenly it feels like the past is repeating itself and Henry must go back to one of the worst days of his life to uncover the truth.

Is it possible that Joan knows something about that day, something she’s hidden all these years? Could there still be a killer out there, someone who believes they have gotten away with murder? Henry is determined to find out, but as he steps closer to the truth, a murderer is getting closer to him, and in this hair-raising game of cat and mouse only one of them will survive.

Joan is married to Richard and suspects he is cheating on her with one of his colleagues. She hires Henry to find out. Henry was Joan's English teacher in high school but had quit to become a police officer after a shooting in his classroom and now he's a private detective. During his investigation, he comes across an apparent murder-suicide that just doesn't seem to be as it appears so he digs a bit deeper, which puts his life in danger.

This is the second in the Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner series ... it works as a stand alone but it helps if you've read that first one to know the history between Henry and Lily. Even though I'd read the first one last year, I still didn't get the dynamics between Henry and Lily. She had tried to kill him yet he was still in love with her and they had become friends ... I found this unbelievable. 

It's written in first person perspective in Henry and Lily's voices and third person perspective otherwise. The timeline bounces back and forth from when Joan was in high school to present day (the chapters are labeled). I found the ending a bit silly with Lily coming in the save the day. As a head's up, there is swearing and violence.