A "Widow's Walk" is a railed observation platform at the top of a house. Often built in seafaring communities, it would provide a look far out to sea for a woman waiting to spy her husband's ship returning home. The maritime environment being what it was the men often didn't return, and thus the name.

Below is a fine example. The structure on top fits the definition exactly though I've often seen the balcony on the second floor called the same thing. The picture I put on the main page may or may not be one but it's on Linnaean Street so it stays.

But why the title for this book? Maybe because Mary has to face her life after being made a widow. Walk the walk, or something like that. The interesting thing is that the title has been used before in the Spenser universe, tied in even closer to its meaning.

The second season of Spenser: For Hire opened with an episode entitled "Widow's Walk." Spenser was hired by a woman whose family fishing business in Gloucester was being plagued by a series of "accidents," including the death of her husband.  In that case it makes perfect sense, and we can extrapolate from there to the current book.

Another country heard from:  Iain Campbell writes

I am still bothered by the title.  I agree it is where a widow goes to gaze out to sea looking for her late husband.  Another possibility (and it doesn't have to be one or the other, RBP would enjoy a multi-layered  joke) is the use of a "walk" in baseball, frequently used in legal circles, where a person gets a "walk", i.e. they get off free.  In this case, Mary Smith gets a "walk" for her various if unwitting crimes.

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