Oliver Yardley

In the Garden Where We've Been Planted Oliver Yardley

When the husband of a prominent Boston art museum curator goes missing, his wife contacts our PI asking him to find him. She insists the investigation must be secret. No one is to know that her American Indian artist husband disappeared-there is to be no publicity that could reflect badly on the artist's reputation, or her social status. Our PI senses something deeper is wrong. Why not report him missing to the police? If it is foul play, surely the police should get involved. Perhaps his disillusionment with his professional life after his wife's passing drives him to do a job he normally wouldn't. Experience tells him to walk away, but the client lures him in. A touching tale of intrigue that takes our PI from small-town America to the remoteness of South Australia in his search for the missing man where he finds more than he expected. It is not only a detective story, it is a story about lost-and-found-people as well as emotions-love and the desire for affection. It looks at issues involving racism, fringe politics, people's station in life, and ethics-contrasting the PI's personal morality with public values.