The Red Car by Marcy Dermanski

Leah is living in NYC with a husband she married because he needed a green card. She's writing a novel and working a part-time job to pay their rent. And she's not particularly happy. Then she gets word from an old coworker in San Francisco that her former boss/mentor/friend Judy has died in a car crash--and she has left the little red sports car she loved (and died in) to Leah.

Leah ends up going to San Francisco (without her husband, much to his annoyance) for the funeral and some time off from her marriage. That trip and the little red sports car (which Leah is convinced is haunted) take her life in a whole new direction. You really hope it makes her more take-charge and less of a passive person who just lets life happen to her. (I did laugh at the fate of the little red sports car at the end of the book.)

The Red Car would be an interesting book for a book group discussion.