Epitaph for Emily: A Jim Wolf Mystery

Summary

While at a reading of a Kurt Vonnegut biography, privateinvestigator Jim Wolf senses someone watching him. He catches sight of a youngwoman, maybe mid-twenties, who is short and has straight, straw-colored blondhair, granny glasses, and freckles. Her figure is more boyish than that of agrown woman. She wears jeans and a man’s white dress shirt, and a cheapnecklace of amber-colored beads with silver disks circles her neck. Her name isEmily.

They escape the crowded bookstore and head for Wolf’sboat—a simple romantic rendezvous that Emily assures Wolf they both want. Inthe morning Wolf wakes as two Oakland detectives land on his deck. Emily hadleft during the night, and their simple tryst has suddenly become complicated. Emilyis dead—and Wolf is charged with her murder. With his own life in jeopardy, Wolfmust find the killer. His quest leads him to the Cal campus, a bearded experton Vonnegut who was sleeping with Emily, and a retro-sixties bash called theCommie Café, where the past becomes the murderous present.