Miss Me When I'm Gone, by Emily Arsenault

A fine book, complex, thoughtful, and engaging.  Jamie Madden is a pregnant young woman, who has been asked to serve as literary executor for her dead (murdered?) friend Gretchen Waters.  Gretchen's adoptive parents ask her to look through the notebooks, computer files, and audio recordings that represent Gretchen's research for her new book.  Her first book, Tammyland, was a journey of self-discovery by way of the lives, songs, and legacies of the women of country music.  Her second book started a companion piece about the men of country music, but seems to have become an exploration into her paternity and the murder of her mother.  This story is told through excerpts from Tammyland, the notebooks and tapes, and a narrative about Jamie's efforts to retrace Gretchen's steps.