Don’t Look For Me: An Amos Walker Novel

In Estleman’s suspenseful, no-frills 23rd Amos Walker novel (after 2012’s Burning Midnight), investment banker Alec Wynn asks the cynical Detroit private detective to find his missing wife, Cecelia, who disappeared, leaving behind a note simply stating, “Don’t look for me.” Walker starts with Wynn’s ex-apprentice, who had an affair with Cecelia, but gets nowhere with him. With few leads, the detective tracks down the herbal remedies store that supplied Cecelia with a cabinet-full of pills, to see if anyone there has any idea of her whereabouts. The search has some unexpected twists, though readers of the genre won’t be surprised when the case turns violent. Estleman has few peers when it comes to giving his world-weary PI downbeat Chandleresque lines (“I thought I heard a bird singing, but it turned out to be a sanitation truck backing up in the next block”), which complement a lean but engrossing plot and a plausibly human lead. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary Agency. (Mar.)