When Nonie Johnson kidnaps her daughter from the adoptive parents, Jesse Falkenstein is brought in. Something seemed wrong from the start - Nonie just wasn''t the maternal type, and then she suddenly vanished from sight.

The search for Nonie Johnson yielded nothing but a series of wild goose chases. Fortunately, Jesse had two aces up his sleeve: a brother-in-law in the police, and a number of unorthodox psychic acquaintances who had their own way of seeking clues.

''My favourite American crime-writer'' New York Herald Tribune