Death bed: A detective story

From 1001 Midnights: Death Bed begins with a scene reminiscent of Philip Marlowe's meeting with Colonel Stem wood in The Big Sleep. Maximilian Kottle, dying millionaire, wishes to hire Tanner to find his estranged son, Karl. Kottle waxes philosophical about life and death - perhaps too much so for a man in such pain and close to death - and Tanner agrees to find his son for him. Karl's mother, flamboyant romance novelist Shelley Withers, can give few clues to her son's whereabouts, but through solid detective work - one of the strong points of this series - Tanner traces Karl, and is getting close when Belinda Kottle, beautiful young wife of Maximilian, calls to say Karl has contacted his father and is coming to see him.