Chapters 1, 2 and 3 Summary

This novel, written in the style and literary traditions of the so-called "hard boiled" crime novel, tells the story of private investigator CW Sughrue's search for a runaway young woman, missing for ten years. A parallel narrative explores the complex relationship between Sughrue, a wandering alcoholic novelist, and the three powerful women in the novelist's life. Aside from exploring themes common to novels of this genre (specifically, the corruptive potential of money, love, sex, and power), "The Last Good Kiss" also explores themes relating to the layering of identity and an individual's inability to escape his/her past.

Private investigator CW Sughrue tracks wayward husband (and sometime writer) Abraham Trahearne across the dry and dusty upper-Midwestern states, following him from down-and-out bar to down-and-out bar, using a list of regular hangouts provided by Trahearne's ex-wife (who's paying Sughrue's expenses and fee...