Vanishing Act

Robin Light, pet-shop owner and amateur detective last seen in The Scent of Murder (1997), returns in a missing-persons case. College student Bryan Hayes hires Robin to look into the disappearance of his sister, Melissa, four months earlier. Robin takes to the local college campus at Syracuse to interview Melissa's former suitemates; her boyfriend, Tommy West; and psychology professor Fell, all of whom link Melissa's disappearance to the death a year earlier of her close friend Jill Evans. Complicating matters is the terminal illness of Bryan and Melissa's mother, who is determined that her daughter be found. Robin is also tolerating a rocky stage in her romantic relationship with ex-cop George, who has taken in his streetwise 14-year-old nephew. Although tightly written, stereotypes abound as the college students live on pizza, and George, who is black, has a run-in with a white cop over his nephew. As the tale progresses, Robin finds herself threatened by Tommy's wealthy father and uncovers some sordid information about Tommy and Bryan. The plot ends with a typical sleuth-meets-killer-and-solves-crime finale. (Sept.)