Ever notice that private eye fiction is full of missing daughters? Ross Macdonald did. One of his books begins: "It was a wandering daughter job."
Earl Staggs seems to have noticed, too, but he does a neat role reversal. His P.I. is hired to find a missing son. Oh, by the way, here is Staggs' opening sentence:
"She had me from the first teardrop."
Aw, the big sentimental lug.
"She" is the mother. Her son disappeared while working on a farm to earn college money. And we won't go any farther, although, naturally, the hero does.
