Lew Griffin Series / The Long-Legged Fly / James Sallis

In steamy modern-day New Orleans, black private detective Lew Griffin has once again taken on a seemingly hopeless missing persons case. The trail leads him through the shady side of the French Quarter with its bar girls, pimps and tourist attractions. As his search leads first to one violent dead end and then another, Griffin is confronted with the prospect that his own life resembles that of those he is trying to find; he is as lost as the frail identities he is trying to save. Waking up in a hospital after a binge of alcohol, Griffin finds a new chance in a nurse who begins to love him, but he returns to his old life in the mean streets among the predators and their prey. When his son disappears, Griffin sets out to search through the turmoil and scraps of his life, knowing that he must solve his personal mysteries before he can venture into the whereabouts of others.