When Elephants Forget — Warren Murphy

Devlin Tracy is an insurance fraud investigator, and a good one. The pay's great, he lives in swingin' Las Vegas, and only has to work when he feels like it. Taking on a New York-based case for Garrison Fidelity isn't something Trace particularly feels like...until his mother comes to town. Suddenly the Big Apple sounds much more appetizing.

Problem: A policyholder's been found by the roadside with Quaaludes in his bloodstream, a rubber Nixon mask on his face, and a bullet through his heart. The police have no suspects, no motive, and no leads. Complication: The victim's father seems to be a made man, Mafia-style. Translation: Not the cooperative type. Quite the opposite, in fact. You'd think he was trying to obstruct the investigation. Trace isn't the type to let a little stonewalling stop him, though, and with help from Chico and Sarge, he'll run the killer to ground. It's what he does.

When Elephants Forget is the third in the Trace series of suspense novels, featuring the charmingly hardboiled insurance investigator.