by Judith White

Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, Detroit’s hotspot for jazz---it’s there that Sam runs into his childhood friend, Johnny Delbeck, and Johnny’s got a problem. A little over three months ago, Johnny and his wife, Grace, took in her niece. Myrna Lou Stevic had been nothing but trouble for her mother, Grace’s sister, and her step father. Grace thinks she can turn the girl’s behavior around by getting her into a new school and getting her involved in the church youth group. One Monday in April, the seventeen year old was sitting on the porch of the Delbeck’s Dearborn home one minute, and in the next, she was gone. Did she just walk away on her own---something she’s done in the past---or did something more sinister occur? This is what Johnny hires Sam to find out. Five days before Easter 1943, Sam tries to ensure her presence for the holiday. But when he starts asking questions, the picture others paint of this girl isn’t pretty, and it’s obvious there are few who really like her. The Detroit private detective wants to solve Johnny’s problem---and he wants the ending to be a good one. Can he find the girl and return her to the home in Dearborn, safe and sound?