In the second installment of the "Alphabet Mysteries", private investigator

Danziger

Kinsey Millhoneis hired by Beverly

Elaine Boldt

to locate her missing sister,

, whose name is needed on some paperwork regarding an inheritance. Elaine
was last seen getting into a cab with the intention of flying down toBoca Raton, Florida, where she spends her winters, but appears to have
disappeared along the way. It seems a relatively straightforward matter, so much so that Kinsey is not sure Beverly needs a PI, but she
agrees to take the case. Things are not as easy as they seem however, as Kinsey can find no trace of Elaine anywhere in Florida, although
she does find a woman called Pat Usher, who claims Elaine agreed to let hersubletthe Boca Raton apartment where Elaine lived while
she was off travelling. This claim rings false to Kinsey, since no one but Pat Usher has received a postcard from Elaine on her supposed trip,
so she secures the able detective assistance of Elaine's elderly neighbour,

Julia, to keep an eye on things in Florida while she goes back

to California. Kinsey suspects there is a link between Elaine's disappearance and the death of her Santa Teresa neighbour, Marty Grice,
who was apparently killed by burglars who then set fire to the Grice home a week before Elaine left. Someone breaks into the home of

Tilly

Elaine's Santa Teresa apartment supervisor,

, apparently on the track of some bills of Elaine's which Tilly was holding ready to forward
on to her. Someone also searches Kinsey's apartment, and Kinsey realises it is Elaine's passport which the thief is after.
Gravely concerned for Elaine's safety, Kinsey suggests to Beverly that Elaine's disappearance should be reported to the police, but Beverly
objects so violently that Kinsey terminates their relationship and starts working for Julia instead. Kinsey reports the disappearance and

Jonah Robb

meets
, a recently-separated cop working on missing persons - but despite her attraction to him she is reluctant to get
involved. A visit from Beverly's husband, Aubrey, complicates matters further, as it turns out he was having an affair with Elaine, which
Beverly had discovered, and Kinsey begins to wonder if Beverly herself could have had a hand in Elaine's disappearance.
Kinsey becomes increasingly convinced that Elaine is dead, and that Pat Usher is involved. Pat has now disappeared, after totally trashing
the Boca Raton apartment. Eventually, she discovers that Pat Usher has applied for a driving licence in Elaine's name, thus proving Pat's
involvement. Marty's nephew Mike, a teenage drug dealer, confesses that he was at the Grice home the night of the murder, and from the
discrepancy in times between his account and what was told to the police, Kinsey realises that it was Elaine who died in the Grice fire, not
Marty. Marty and her husband killed Elaine to steal her identity (which Marty assumed) and her money. They then passed Elaine's dead
body off as Marty's by switching the dental records. Marty departed for Florida as Elaine, and arrived as Pat Usher, with some cosmetic
surgery to help. Having been unable to find Elaine's passport, she and her husband have been forced to wait for a new one to come through
before they can skip the country. Kinsey returns to the Grice home to look for the murder weapon, but while she is there, the Grices find her.
Kinsey is shot in the left arm during the fight that ensues, but she manages to detain the two criminals, and calls for help. In the second
installment of the "Alphabet Mysteries", private investigatorKinsey Millhoneis hired by Beverly Danziger to locate her missing sister, Elaine
Boldt, whose name is needed on some paperwork regarding an inheritance. Elaine was last seen getting into a cab with the intention of
flying down toBoca Raton, Florida, where she spends her winters, but appears to have disappeared along the way. It seems a relatively
straightforward matter, so much so that Kinsey is not sure Beverly needs a PI, but she agrees to take the case.
Things are not as easy as they seem however, as Kinsey can find no trace of Elaine anywhere in Florida, although she does find a woman
called Pat Usher, who claims Elaine agreed to let hersubletthe Boca Raton apartment where Elaine lived while she was off travelling. This
claim rings false to Kinsey, since no one but Pat Usher has received a postcard from Elaine on her supposed trip, so she secures the able
detective assistance of Elaine's elderly neighbour, Julia, to keep an eye on things in Florida while she goes back to California. Kinsey
suspects there is a link between Elaine's disappearance and the death of her Santa Teresa neighbour, Marty Grice, who was apparently
killed by burglars who then set fire to the Grice home a week before Elaine left. Someone breaks into the home of Elaine's Santa Teresa
apartment supervisor, Tilly, apparently on the track of some bills of Elaine's which Tilly was holding ready to forward on to her. Someone
also searches Kinsey's apartment, and Kinsey realises it is Elaine's passport which the thief is after.
Gravely concerned for Elaine's safety, Kinsey suggests to Beverly that Elaine's disappearance should be reported to the police, but Beverly
objects so violently that Kinsey terminates their relationship and starts working for Julia instead. Kinsey reports the disappearance and


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man Ratn
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sner
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Julia

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Kinsey
Millhone

Elaine
Boldt

Pat
Usher

Marty
Grice

Beve
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Mr. W
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Tillie
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Leonard
Grice

Lily
Howe

CHARACTERS

Hoover

Dr.
Pickett

Lieutena
nt Dolan
Mrs.
Pickett

Mike
Jonah Robb

CONDOMINIUM IN SANTA TERESA

STATE

STREET, CALIFORNIA

BOCA RATON CONDOMINIUM

THE
FIRST
MEET

G
N
I
W
O
KN
TO
E
N
I
A
L
E

PA
T
US
H

ER

G
N
I
T
E
E
M
E
K
I
M

LILY
AND
LEONARD

S
E
I
C
A
R
G
S
HOUSE

BEVERLY
S
HUSBAND

S
G
A
B
E
H
T
A
I
L
U
J
AND

HOOVER
WAS
KILLED

THE
TRUTH

THE
MYSTER
Y IS
SOLVED