Sleep with Slander — Dolores Hitchens

Private eye Jim Sader returns in a hard-hitting hunt for a missing child through the dark corners of sunny southern California

"You're playing with a child's life": The search for a kidnapped boy leads private detective (and ex-alcoholic) Jim Sader through a labyrinth of well-hidden family secrets and into the heart of an elaborate and malevolent deception. With little to go on--a tight-lipped client, an anonymous letter, a mother who is supposed to be dead--Sader must rely on his wits to find the child even as he outraces the demons that dog him. Sleep with a Slander is a novel in the classic hardboiled tradition, tough, compassionate, and tautly told.