S is for Silence (Kinsey Millhone, #19)

Just after American Independence Day in July 1953, Violet Sullivan, a local good time girl living in Serena Station in southern California, drives off in her brand new Chevy and is never seen again. It's as if she disappeared off the face of the earth.

Left behind is Violet's young daughter, Daisy, and her impetuous husband, Foley, who had been persuaded to buy his errant wife the car only days before...

Now, thirty-five years later, Daisy wants closure.

Although reluctant to open such an old cold case, Kinsey Millhone agrees to spend five days investigating. Deep down, she believes that Violet simply moved on to greener pastures. But soon it becomes clear that a lot of people shared a past with Violet, a past that some are still desperate to keep hidden. And in a town as close-knit as Serena there aren't many places to hide when things turn vicious...

Librarian's note: the characters, settings, etc. have been done for all 25 novels in the Kinsey Millhone alphabet series, A to Y. Sue Grafton also wrote 9 Kinsey short stories which can be found in Kinsey and Me.