Vandy sits down for a question-and-answer session with dru’s book musings so that we can learn more about what makes her tick. Let’s see what she has to say.

What is your full name?
Evander Myrick. I’m named after my father. Until they meet me, most clients assume I’m a man. Some of the bigots flee, but most people stick. My family and friends call me Vandy.

How old are you?
47

What is your profession?
I’m a private investigator. I served as an officer in the New Brunswick, New Jersey police force for a decade before working as a campus cop at Rutgers University. When my world collapsed, I returned to my childhood home, Queenstown, where I opened a practice as a private eye.

Do you have a significant other?
No. But I’m not shy, so I make do with the local pickings, however skimpy. There’s been nobody significant since I separated from my husband twenty years ago. I was four months pregnant when the divorce was finalized. Good times.

Do you have any children?
Yes. My daughter Monica. But she died on her nineteenth birthday. A few months after her death, I quit my job at Rutgers and returned to Queenstown. My heart is still shattered and the repair work is slow. But with the help of good friends and complicated cases, I’m getting on.

Do you have any siblings?
No. But the term “roving eye” applies to my dad, so I wouldn’t bet my life on it.

Are your parents nearby?
Yes and no. My mother died seven years ago and she’s buried in the cemetery of our old church in the Black section of Queenstown, only a few blocks from my house. My father Evander is alive, kicking, and confined in a nursing home, where he receives excellent care for his advancing Alzheimer’s. Evander lives only a few miles away, I visit three times a week. But he never recognizes me. Like I said, yes and no.

Who is your best friend?
My dearest friend, Elissa Adesanya, is a lawyer. I work as an investigator on retainer in her legal practice and she lets me use an office in her suite. My next best pal is Elissa’s wife, Belle Ames, who is the admin assistant/supreme dictator in our office. And my third best friend is Mavis Jenkins, the owner of the Kings Cross Tavern where I do my (non-alcoholic) drinking and socializing. This triumvirate of charismatic Black women keeps me sane and safe. Someone called them the Three Furies, but I hate to imagine where I’d be without my resilience circle.

Do you have cats, dogs, or other pets?
I’m working my way up to houseplants.

What town do you live in?
Queenstown, the heart of the Garden State. A community founded before the American Revolution, Q-town is nine miles east of Princeton, twenty-five miles from the shore, and surrounded by the best soy fields and adults-only housing complexes in Jersey. Only nine thousand people live in Queenstown, but every one of them has a story worth hiding.

House or apartment?
When I came back, I bought a large Victorian house on Main Street and spent like an emperor on a gut remodel. Now the place is sleek, stylish, and mostly empty.

What is your favorite spot in your home?
Depends. In the morning, I like curling over my kitchen island, waiting for the coffee to brew. The sunlight bouncing off all that white furniture, marble, and tile is both soothing and energizing. Feels like purity brought home. At night, nothing beats the peace of lounging in my small den off the main living room. With deep blue walls, curtains, and sofas, I keep books, music, photo albums, and memories there.

What is your favorite meal and dessert?
The cook at Kings Cross Tavern makes the best blue cheeseburgers in Mason County, maybe in all of Jersey. Local law requires Q-towners eat a slice of chocolate layer cake at the Queenstown Diner each week. And I uphold that law religiously.

Do you have any hobbies?
Thanks to my father’s instruction, I play a mean game of chess. At least once a week I make time for a round of boxing. I work up a nice lather pommeling the speed and heavy bags. My trainer says I’m pretty good for an old girl.

What music do you listen to?
Whatever smooth and soulful is in my rotation: Billie Holiday to Minnie Riperton, Mary J. Blige to Beyoncé. For their poetry and good works, I throw some Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift into the mix.

What are your favorite colors?
Black and dark blue. I’m trying to add touches of pink and gold, which were Monica’s favorites, into my wardrobe. She’d be proud of me.

What is your favorite vacation spot?
Paris.

Are you a morning or night person?
Night owl.

What is your idea of a really fun time?
Lasagna dinner at home with my friends Elissa and Belle. Belle makes the tastiest pasta from scratch and Elissa delivers the nastiest gossip from memory.

If you were to write a memoir, what would you call it?
The Come-Back.

Amateur or professional sleuth and whom do you work with?
Professional. My friend/boss Elissa generates some cases through her legal practice. I try to stay on the good side of the Q-town police, but working with my old high school boyfriend, Bobby Sayre who is now police chief, can get dicey at times.

What is a typical day in your life like?
Coffee and oatmeal get me to the office by nine, where I scan online news, delete junk email, maybe polish the report I drafted the night before or prep for a court appearance in support of Elissa’s latest case. Most days I’m serving subpoenas, verifying employment histories. Nailing disability scams. And doing surveillance. Tons of surveillance. Tracking fugitive relatives, sticky-fingered neighbors, cheating spouses. I’m still looking for that signature case, the one that will break me into the big time. I’d love to be able to strike out on my own, to no longer rely on Elissa for a monthly retainer. After hours, I drop into Kings Cross Tavern for a quick drink. The bartender Mavis has known me half my life and will steer a client my direction whenever she can. One or two times a week, I invite a new friend home for an evening of harmless entertainment. Mavis doesn’t approve, but then she’s not my mother. That’s how my day’s supposed to go. Until death intrudes and I plunge into another murder investigation.

Trouble in Queenstown, A Vandy Myrick Mystery Book #1
Genre: Private Investigator Mystery
Release: July 2024
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link

With Trouble in Queenstown, Delia Pitts introduces private investigator Vandy Myrick in a powerful mystery that blends grief, class, race, and family with thrilling results.

Evander “Vandy” Myrick became a cop to fulfill her father’s expectations. After her world cratered, she became a private eye to satisfy her own. Now she’s back in Queenstown, New Jersey, her childhood home, in search of solace and recovery. It’s a small community of nine thousand souls crammed into twelve square miles, fenced by cornfields, warehouses, pharma labs, and tract housing. As a Black woman, privacy is hard to come by in “Q-Town,” and worth guarding.

For Vandy, that means working plenty of divorce cases. They’re nasty, lucrative, and fun in an unwholesome way. To keep the cash flowing and expand her local contacts, Vandy agrees to take on a new client, the mayor’s nephew, Leo Hannah. Leo wants Vandy to tail his wife to uncover evidence for a divorce suit.

At first the surveillance job seems routine, but Vandy soon realizes there’s trouble beneath the bland surface of the case when a racially charged murder with connections to the Hannah family rocks Q-Town. Fingers point. Clients appear. Opposition to the inquiry hardens. And Vandy’s sight lines begin to blur as her determination to uncover the truth deepens. She’s a minor league PI with few friends and no resources. Logic pegs her chances of solving the case between slim and hell no. But logic isn’t her strong suit. Vandy won’t back off.

About the author
Delia Pitts worked as a journalist before earning a Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago. After careers as a U.S. diplomat and university administrator, she left academia to begin writing fiction. Trouble in Queenstown is the first book in a new mystery series featuring Black private investigator Vandy Myrick. Delia is also the author of the Ross Agency Mysteries, about a Harlem detective firm, and several short stories. She’s a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and Crime Writers of Color.