The Man Who Cast Two Shadows -- Carol O'Connell

If anything, the sequel is even better than the first book.  And the first book was a spectacularly good murder mystery. 

A blonde woman's body is found in a park, neck snapped, skull crushed and hands mutilated--the only identification on the body is a label sewn into her blazer that reads, "Kathleen Mallory".

Obviously, the body isn't Mallory's.  But the situation certainly makes the case personal.  Personal enough that she adopts the murdered woman's cat (not only does Mallory not make connections with other people, she's not an animal person, either.  Also, Mallory is a clean freak--the idea of having a pet is just bizarre to her) and goes undercover in a swanky apartment house to ferret out the killer.

At the same time, Charles Butler is dealing with a kid who may be telekinetic.  He also may be being abused.  His stepmother (his mother is dead, as is his first stepmother) is terrified, his father is caught somewhere between fury and terror, and the boy is just confused.

As an good crime-solving duo should, they get much-needed help from the cleaning lady:

Mrs. Ortega leaned on the vacuum hose and wagged her finger at Charles.  "You can always tell the rich kids born with money.  If the husband of the wife splits, they go off their feed for a week.  You can tell how upset they are by the stock of booze and pills.  But if the cleaning woman leaves them, their whole world falls apart.  They go back to living like animals.  So chances are, your guy wasn't born with money."

I'm so behind on posting about books that I've already read the third one in the series.  But I'll get to writing about it later.  I'm dying to read the fourth one, but I promised myself that I'd write this one up before devouring it.