The Galton case

the long version

Private investigator Lew Archer is hired to find Anthony Galton, who disappeared twenty years earlier, taking several thousand dollars of the family fortune and a young pregnant bride with him. Archer discovers that Galton changed his name to John Brown and moved to San Francisco to become a poet, so he follows the trail north. A set of human bones, missing the head, turns up in Luna Bay, south of San Francisco, followed closely by a young man claiming to be John Brown, Jr. Before Archer can unravel the mystery, he gets beat up in Reno, visits Canada twice, tangles with several unsavory -- and one very savory -- characters, and makes some surprising discoveries.