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Suburban Detective #2
The Family Stalker
Certain that someone has targeted her family for destruction, attorney Marianne Dow hires private detective Kit Deleeuw to follow the trail of a terrifying stalker, a woman who uses betrayal and twisted friendship to shatter happy families. Reprint.
311 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
57 people want to read
About the author
Jon Katz
56 books467 followers Jon Katz is an author, photographer, and children's book writer. He lives on Bedlam Farm with his wife, the artist Maria Wulf, his four dogs, Rose, Izzy, Lenore and Frieda, two donkeys, Lulu and Fanny, and two barn cats. His next book, "Rose In A Storm" will be published by Random House on October 5.
He is working on a collection of short stories and a book on animal grieving.
He is working on a collection of short stories and a book on animal grieving.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 20, 2025
An old friend, one who doesn't much like fiction, reminded me that I had sent her this whole series many years ago, and she loved it so much that she kept it--despite also having a policy of not keeping books around the house.
I had no idea what she was talking about! (In my defense, it's been about 30 years.) So I decided to find some used copies and read it again.
The first in the series--Murder by Station Wagon--is good, but mainly serves to introduce us to the protagonist Kit Deleeuw, a former finance guy who was drummed out of his profession when he kept company with insider traders and refused to rat them out. Now he is a private detective and soccer dad. Works for me!
This book, by contrast, is riveting. A woman comes to Kit because she believes another woman is actively trying to destroy her family. She claims this woman has done it before, befriending the mom, seducing the dad, and becoming the number one confidant of the children.
They say every book has already been written, but this one proves the exception.
Every aspect of this fun little book is pitch perfect, from the characterization, to the observations about life in the late 1900s, to the tricky solution, which features an unusual twist that I know something about. There are no trite devices employed here, which is one of my pet peeves.
It's out of print, but if you can snag a used copy or library book, I highly recommend it to you.
I had no idea what she was talking about! (In my defense, it's been about 30 years.) So I decided to find some used copies and read it again.
The first in the series--Murder by Station Wagon--is good, but mainly serves to introduce us to the protagonist Kit Deleeuw, a former finance guy who was drummed out of his profession when he kept company with insider traders and refused to rat them out. Now he is a private detective and soccer dad. Works for me!
This book, by contrast, is riveting. A woman comes to Kit because she believes another woman is actively trying to destroy her family. She claims this woman has done it before, befriending the mom, seducing the dad, and becoming the number one confidant of the children.
They say every book has already been written, but this one proves the exception.
Every aspect of this fun little book is pitch perfect, from the characterization, to the observations about life in the late 1900s, to the tricky solution, which features an unusual twist that I know something about. There are no trite devices employed here, which is one of my pet peeves.
It's out of print, but if you can snag a used copy or library book, I highly recommend it to you.
November 3, 2019
This is the second in the Suburban Detective series--I'm reading them out of order (2019 note--I never read another). I liked it, but the author lapses into formulaic asides about suburbia, suburban life, the sacredness of the family (this from a refreshingly feminist, pro-gay perspective), etc., etc. ALso its a bad sign when I spot things before the detective, like that Pam and Andrea were the same person, and that Andrea and Marianne were different personalities of the same woman. I almost Never clue into the answer before the detective.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 3, 2024
Super hard read at first but the ending is wild. Not what I would’ve ever imagined.
July 8, 2008
THE FAMILY STALKER - Ex
Katz, Jon - 2nd in series
A bizarre case for mall detective Kit Deleeuw (Death by Station Wagon, 1993): his client, lawyer Marianne Dow, is convinced that Andrea Lucca, her friend from Buns of Steel, is determined to break up her family--not simply because she has designs on Marianne's Wall Street husband Gil, but because she likes breaking up families. And a quick check with other Buns of Steel alumnae confirms that Andrea has indeed pulled the same stunt with them, befriending the women, sleeping with their husbands, and then moving on. But Kit can't talk to Andrea--she's disappeared--and suddenly, with the murders of Gil Dow (brained as he sat in his bathtub with Marianne just a few yards away) and aerobics instructor Roberta Bingham, Kit finds himself in his Volvo chasing leads all over the New Jersey interstates and uncovering an abused childhood that leaves him wondering whether there's anything Andrea wouldn't do.
This is a great series with a very different protagonist. Traditional mysteries with more depth than one might expect.
Katz, Jon - 2nd in series
A bizarre case for mall detective Kit Deleeuw (Death by Station Wagon, 1993): his client, lawyer Marianne Dow, is convinced that Andrea Lucca, her friend from Buns of Steel, is determined to break up her family--not simply because she has designs on Marianne's Wall Street husband Gil, but because she likes breaking up families. And a quick check with other Buns of Steel alumnae confirms that Andrea has indeed pulled the same stunt with them, befriending the women, sleeping with their husbands, and then moving on. But Kit can't talk to Andrea--she's disappeared--and suddenly, with the murders of Gil Dow (brained as he sat in his bathtub with Marianne just a few yards away) and aerobics instructor Roberta Bingham, Kit finds himself in his Volvo chasing leads all over the New Jersey interstates and uncovering an abused childhood that leaves him wondering whether there's anything Andrea wouldn't do.
This is a great series with a very different protagonist. Traditional mysteries with more depth than one might expect.
February 15, 2015
Enjoyable well written mystery. Well plotted page turner - the the deneumont was a bit if a disappointment (kind of like it was all a dream - which I detest), it was obviously the authors plan all along, not a last minute wiggle out of a hole. I found the main character a bit annoying - too perfect, too understanding a parent, too feminist. Became grating. I also was annoyed by authors constant restatement of basic facts. Police chief is veteran of Brooklyn. OK. You do not have to restate that fact each time the character appears.
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May 23, 2015
I liked the idea of this surburban stay-at-home dad hero, though at times his dismissal of stay-at-home women seemed a bit oxymoronic. He's goes on a few too many knee-jerk liberal rants for me. Still, I liked Kit's detective office in a mall, his hobnobbing with former stars, his own former life as a Wall St. exec, and his clients, from the likeable Marianne Dow to her AA exercise instructor. The plot is interesting too; I enjoyed seeing it unfold. Having teens myself, I liked the wry descriptions of Kit's children in the wild.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews