Desperate Highways — John Maddox Roberts

Since shamus Gabe Treloar can't say no to his boss, he drops his caseload in Knoxville and takes off after doting Randall (Kit) Carson's daughter Sibyl, who seems to have traded grad school--despite her all-American credentials--for the dubious company of used-car con artist Nick Switzer. A look at some diaries and photographs suggest that Sibyl's been reading too much Nietzsche and posing for some very odd pictures, but they don't tell Gabe where she is. So Gabe hits the desperate highways for points west. His odyssey will take him to Memphis, Oklahoma City, Santa Fe , Albuquerque, and Las Vegas before careening to a percussive climax high in the Sierras.