This gives you a good idea both of what a private detective's work is like, and of how they go about tracing missing people. It probably won't come as a surprise that it is not as glamorous or dangerous or exciting as it looks on TV and the movies. Much of the work involves looking through records and cross-checking information. Sometimes the PI makes an occasional phone call to get some info (often under a false pretext), and sometimes they even ring a doorbell or two to confront someone's long-lost lover or relative. Many of their clients (and the people they are seeking) have serious problems. Most people-tracing cases, says Faron, involve a lonely soul remembering a long lost lover, perhaps someone who dumped them, and wanting to see what they are doing and if there is still a spark.
The book was written in 1997 and could use an update. There is virtually no mention of the internet here, and I would wager that a lot of the searching PIs do today involves perusing various online databases. There is nothing about this work that seems particularly oriented toward writers - this would be a good title for anyone curious about the subject, but who would be most likely to be curious other than someone who aspires to be the next Raymond Chandler? For instance, there is no reference here to any famous missing person case, either actual or fictional. It might have been interesting to see her thoughts on some of those.
But give Faron credit for apparently telling it like it is, and also for fleshing out her book with some interesting stuff that is indirectly related to the subject. The section title "Profile of the Scoundrel" is a good one, and features information on con games, hustles, deadbeat clients and the like. The entire book is peppered with interesting anecdotes drawn from Faron's career, all told in her world-weary, wisecracking voice. And she is a good storyteller (even if there could have been a little more detail in some of her yarns) - she sticks to the facts, and includes a lot of seen-it-all wit. Overall, this is a good member of the Writers Digest Howdunit Series - I hope to read more of them. It certainly does illustrate that there is a world of difference between a well-crafted missing person mystery and the actual work of an investigator trying to trace someone.
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