Dr. Dowan Purcell, manager of a nursing care facility, had been missing for nine weeks when private investigator Kinsey Millhone got a call from his ex-wife Fiona asking her to take on the case. Kinsey's instincts told her to refuse the job, yet she ended up saying, "I'll do what I can, but I make no promises," a decision she'd live to regret. It seems everyone has a theory. The cops think he went on a bender; Fiona is sure he ran off to get away from his current wife, Crystal, who is just as sure he's dead; the nursing home staff are convinced he's been kidnapped; one of his daughters believes he's trapped in a dark place. Pure chance leads Kinsey in another direction, where duplicity and double-dealing are the reality and where she must stake her life on a thin thread of intuition--Adapted from author's website.