The Vanishing Smile — Earl Emerson

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....