Vanishing Point (Sharon McCone Series #23) » (Reprint)

Marcia Muller has written many novels and short stories. Her novel WOLF IN THE SHADOWS won an Anthony Boucher Award. The recipient of the Private Eye Writers of America's Lifetime Achievement Award, she lives in northern California with her husband, mystery writer Bill Pronzini.

In the latest installment in this critically acclaimed series, McCone is hired to investigate one of San Luis Obispo County's most puzzling cold cases. A generation ago, Laurel Greenwood, a housewife and artist, inexplicably vanished, leaving her young daughter alone. Now, new evidence suggests that the missing woman may have led a strange double life. But before McCone can penetrate the tangled mystery, she must first solve a second disappearance that of her client, the now grown daughter of Laurel Greenwood. The case, which forces Sharon to explore the darker sides of two marriages, comes uncomfortably close on the heels of her own marriage to Hy Ripinsky, and she begins to doubt the wisdom of her impulsive trip to the Reno wedding chapel.

The Washington Post - Kevin Allman

Vanishing Point is crammed full of people -- perhaps too full -- from previous McCone mysteries. It's a patchwork quilt of characters, obviously dear to both detective and author; a couple of them could have been eliminated to better effect, but Muller does a good job keeping everyone straight. All these old friends help underscore Muller's point about Laurel Greenwood: To McCone, friendship and love are all, and walking out on family and friends is the ultimate crime.