The Vanishing Smile

"EMERSON AGAIN DELIVERS THE GOODS, dishing out humor, suspense, and heart-pounding action in heaping portions." --Booklist Marian Wright is an amateur sleuth in the employ of two attractive young women eager to catch up with their no-account ex-lovers. But when Marian's investigation ends abruptly and ferociously, Seattle private eye Thomas Black has a new case on his hands. Picking up the pieces of Marian Wright's search for her clients' rogue boyfriends, Thomas encounters a network of people--from ex-cons and prostitutes to other private investigators--all webbed together by a chilling common thread. It's a discovery that speaks volumes about the zealousness of Marian's manhunt, and even suggests a monstrous reason for her sudden death. Yet equally monstrous is an unknown, baseball bat-wielding assailant who seems hell-bent on making sure Thomas Black's investigation stays closed. . . . "Emerson adds another smoothly written book to his popular series." --The Seattle Times "GRITTY." --Publishers Weekly