What Doesn’t Kill You

At the start of Hix’s uninspired first novel, Virginia PI Willa Pennington, an ex-cop, goes late one morning to the house that Violet Horowitz, the only child of wealthy helicopter parents, shares with her abusive boyfriend, Joe Reagan. Willa has agreed to help Violet move out as a favor to her good friends David and Susan Horowitz, the young woman’s grandparents. Violet isn’t home, but Joe, who was supposed to be at work, is lying dead in a pool of blood just inside the back door. Det. Jan Boyd, a role model for Willa when she was still on the force, responds to her 911 call. She suspects that Violet fled after shooting Joe. David and Susan have no idea where she’s gone. Seth Anderson, the brother of Willa’s late boyfriend, gets involved in the case and discourages Willa from investigating on her own. Is Seth trying to protect her, or does he have an ulterior motive? At one point, Willa notes that she’s “exceptionally good” at self-recrimination, and she spends an annoying amount of time at it in this one-note mystery. (Jan.)