Gone, No Forwarding

The owners of DKA, a small San Francisco detective firm that locates people who have skipped out on debts and obligations, face a crisis: the state licensing board is considering revoking their permit over a minor violation. Desperate to bring in quick money, the partners take on a search for a call girl who has vanished and is hiding from someone. Gores, a former private investigator himself, builds the story around the day-to-day grind of skip tracing, with its paperwork, phone calls, and legwork through the city's neighborhoods.

The book is the first entry in Joe Gores' DKA Files series, which follows the agency's investigators through the streets of San Francisco. Its tone is hardboiled and wry, and the investigators are working professionals more than heroic lawmen. The novel suits readers who enjoy gritty private-eye fiction and authentic detail about how investigations are actually carried out.