Review copy was received from NetGalley, Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Death of an Ex by Delia Pitts Narrator: Bahni Turpin
Published by MacMillan Audio, Minotaur Books on July 15, 2025
Genres: Mystery
Pages: 320
Length: 11 hours, 52 minutes
Format: Audiobook, eARC
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
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Queenstown, New Jersey, feels big when you need help and tiny when you want privacy. For Vandy Myrick, that’s both a blessing and a curse. Now that Vandy’s back in “Q-Town,” her services as her hometown’s only Black woman private investigator have earned her more celebrity—or notoriety—than she figured.
Keeping busy with work helps Vandy deal with the grief of losing her daughter, stitching the seams, cementing the gaps. The memories will always remain, and they come crashing back to the surface when her ex-husband, Phil Bolden, walks back into her life. Promising everything, returning home, restoring family. Until she answers her door to the news that Phil has been murdered. And Vandy decides Phil is now her client.
It’s hard to separate the Phil that Vandy knew from the one Queenstown did. She sees him—and their daughter—in Phil’s son, who attends a prestigious local high school. She sees the layers of a complicated marriage with his wife. She sees all of Phil’s various parent, husband, businessman, philanthropist. But which role got him killed?
Vandy Myrick series continues with her private investigator work in an office with lawyers and visiting her father in the nursing home. She still chooses not to carry a gun or drink alcohol. I still think she needs to take some self defense classes or get a K9 because she is on her own too much without backup.
She goes to an homecoming event at a local high school and runs into her ex-husband, Phil. The friend who invited her is dating his son who is getting athletic awards. Vandy is caught up in a swirl of emotions seeing him again. She eventually goes with him to their daughter’s grave, and invites him home to look at photos and they end up in bed.
Phil leaves and ends up dead. Vandy hides the fact he was there but works with the cops to solve his murder. There are plenty of candidates from family, business associates and other affairs with women. Phil had been in to many illegal business schemes and cheated often with women. There were plenty of unlikable characters.
I wasn’t very comfortable with many things Vandy did. I do understand when she protected herself and others when their actions weren’t illegal though, just distasteful. She did keep a lot of information from the police which was dangerous for her in several ways. She did manage to make a connection with his Phil’s son, Tariq and help him. I can only wonder what Vandy will get up to next.
Narration:
I really enjoy this narrator. The emotion and personality she infused into the characters added to my enjoyment. The voices were distinct and sounded authentic for the age and gender of the character. I listened at my newer 1.75x speed.
Listen to a clip: HERE
About Bahni Turpin
Bahni Turpin is a Los Angeles-based actress with many television and film credits in addition to being an award winning narrator. She is honored to have been awarded an Audie for Best Female Narrator, 2015, Audible Narrator of the Year, 2016, and American Library Association’s Voice of Choice for 2017. In 2018, Bahni won best female narration again, and was also inducted into the Audible Hall of Fame. She is a two-time Odyssey Award winner, and was also named as one of Audiophile’s Golden Voices for 2019.
Bahni Turpin is also a famous TV and film actress. She started her career in 1987 with the film called “Tiszta Amerika”.
2010 Best Voice in Fiction: PRECIOUS
The talented narrator is now a devoted listener, too, but she came to audiobooks with a bit of skepticism. Another actress referred her to Books on Tape, where she later auditioned. “It was very strange to me at the time because I didn’t listen to audiobooks then.”
In time, Books on Tape engaged her to read A PIECE OF CAKE, by Cupcake Brown, and Bahni was hooked. She had always liked reading aloud and found the assignment to be a comfortable and enjoyable gig. Of course, she’s continued. But sometimes she’s surprised at a director’s requirements. “I auditioned for a new company, and the director was so picky,” she says. “Every time you cleared your throat, you had to restart the paragraph.”
Bahni, who now loves listening to women’s stories as she tools around Los Angeles, was mesmerized by her own voicing of the character Minny in THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett. “While listening, I forgot it was me I was listening to,” says Bahni, who enjoyed the book’s rich emotions and vivid characterizations of several female characters.
The experience of absorbing audiobooks can be challenging for some modern listeners, Bahni feels. The heavy reliance on television for entertainment has led some to forget how to listen without a visual component. But she doesn’t draw a line between acting and narration. Bahni reads each book before recording and makes notes about how each character should sound. “I like to give each one a characterization and really try to read the way I feel the text should be heard. I especially enjoy doing dialects.”
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I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
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Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
- 24-COYER
Vandi sounds like a different sort of PI. I think this sounds pretty good!
It is good but the characters have interesting integrity lines of what is right and wrong.
Vandy sounds like an extremely layered character operating in the gray. Bahni Turpin is one of my favorite narrators so I’m feeling the pull😏 Great review, Anne💜
That’s it exactly Jonetta. Vandy does have layers and lives more gray than black and white.
I think Vandy would drive me crazy. I like that it sounds like she has some layers but it also sounds like she’s got some TSTL going on and I’m not sure about the distasteful actions. I do love this narrator though so I might pick this up in audio.
I started the series because I love the narrator. It’s an interesting series. I wasn’t comfortable with many of her decisions but that’s part of why I read is to get different perspectives.
I would probably have some issues with Vandy’s decisions, too. Sounds like a drama filled mystery, but one I’d want to know the solution to.
yes I care about what happens but the characters definitely are gray, flawed.
Oof. I’m sure I would not like some of her decisions either.
I can understand her decisions but I don’t like some of them. She walks a fine line.
Sounds like even with the issues you had it was still good for you. Great review!
yes it’s a different kind of read when the characters are quite flawed.