Below the Line: A Charlie Waldo Novel

In Gould’s rollicking sequel to 2018’s Last Looks, Stevie Rose, a wealthy 15-year-old girl, hires PI Charlie Waldo, a former LAPD detective, and Lorena, Charlie’s boss and girlfriend, to find her missing brother, Terrence. Stevie says Terrence, a UCLA grad student, became her guardian two years earlier, after their parents died in a car crash, and she’s worried that he’s been hanging out with a high school teacher, Victor Ouelette, who’s been supplying him with drugs. When Waldo visits Ouelette, the teacher claims he’s never heard of Terrence. Meanwhile, Lorena discovers UCLA has no record of him. The pair soon realize that Stevie is telling them mostly lies. When Ouelette is murdered, Stevie vanishes, making her the prime suspect. An ecological extremist, Waldo owns only a “Hundred Things” and refuses to use cars whenever possible, which often puts him at odds with the materialistic Lorena. Though Gould’s jaunty tone sometimes clashes with the story’s grim content, the entertaining characters are enough to keep readers turning the pages. Fans of quirky PIs will find lots to like. Agent: Jay Mandel, WME. (Aug.)