Despite its intriguing premise, Heller's (The Dog Stars) third novel is a missing persons mystery that never quite finds its mark. Celine, descended from the original governors of the Plymouth Colony, is a well-heeled investigator, the "Prada PI," whose age (68) is still well below her success rate (96%). Gabriela hires her to look into the disappearance of Gabriela's father, a famous nature photographer who years ago was presumed dead after a grizzly attack just outside of Yellowstone National Park. Agreeing with Gabriela that the death appeared staged, Celine and her husband, Pete, retired and almost as resourceful as his wife, head out West. The plucky Celine has her charms, but other characters, such as Elbie Chicksaw, the Montana tracker who studied comparative literature at Dartmouth, ring false, as does some of the dialogue: "You sound like that Neruda poem I love so." The case slowly breaks open, but long flashbacks to Celine's uber-WASPy childhood summers on Fishers Island, N.Y., sap the narrative of momentum, as does a subplot involving Celine's son, who embarks on an missing persons investigation of his own in New England. The majesties and dangers of Yellowstone supply a compelling backdrop against which to set a story about "how easily parents can disappear and families fall apart," and Heller, a gifted nature writer as well as novelist, handles certain set pieces well. But too often the novel seems lost in the wilderness. 100,000-copy announced first printing. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Heller's captivating detective tale stars blue-blooded Celine Watkins-modeled after the author's mother-who forsakes her art-filled Brooklyn apartment and Cartier diamonds to probe a cold case in the Western wilds. Celine's (aka "The Prada PI") client Gabriela Lamont is the daughter of a National Geographic photographer reportedly killed by a grizzly bear, but neither woman believes the story. Celebrated for iconic but perilous close-ups of wild beasts (and long suspected of CIA ties), might not Lamont père have intruded upon another risky scenario and needed to vanish? With seven decades of hard-won wisdom, second husband Pete, and the ability to "go incognito anywhere," Glock-packing Celine reconnoiters the majestic environs of Yellowstone National Park. Heller pauses the action at intervals to canvass a second vividly rendered panorama-Celine's formative backstory of privilege and heartache; Kimberly Farr's accomplished narration bridges the revelatory time shifts gracefully. Projecting Celine's compassion and effortless class, Farr also spotlights engaging supporting players, including a tenderhearted Latvian waitress and native Mainer Pete. VERDICT This buoyant character study/intriguing mystery will delight fiction fans who approach the story as Celine confronts life, alert to epiphanies at every turn. Highly recommended for all public libraries. ["Heller (The Painter) blends suspense with beautiful descriptive writing of both nature and civilization to create a winner": LJ 2/1/17 starred review of the Knopf hc.]-Linda Sappenfield, Round Rock P.L., TX © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

An aging PI on the trail of a decades-old cold case finds more than she bargained for in the wilds of Wyoming.Old-money WASP Celine Watkins, 68, the titular protagonist of Heller's (The Painter, 2014, etc.) first detective novel, isn't your typical private eye. But most private eyes can't boast a 96 percent success rate, either. Contacted by the daughter of a National Geographic photographer who disappeared in Yellowstone two decades earlier under mysterious circumstances, Celine and husband Pete head out from Brooklyn Heights to Wyoming. As the couple retraces the photographer's last known steps, however, they find a mystery far larger than just a missing journalist. These scenes of sleuthing set against the Wyoming wilderness are beautifully renderedgiven that Heller is also a contributing editor to Outside magazine and National Geographic Adventure, it's no wonder the book's best moments come in its evocative descriptions of the American West in early autumn. Celine herself is a delight, and seeing grizzled men ranging from bikers to gun salesmen to Bruce Willis repeatedly underestimate this tough little old lady is one of the novel's biggest joys. But Heller's authorial presence is so strong that his characters' own voices suffer. When his characters withhold information from each other, it seems to happen for no reason other than to generate suspense, and their dialogue, while at times quite witty, is never recognizably distinct from Heller's narration. In a particularly illustrative instance, Pete recounts a conversation he had with a woman named Marie: " 'She was a man-eater!' Marie said in a baffled Haitian accent." It's hard to imagine an actual human being using the phrase "Marie said in a baffled Haitian accent," yet such unbelievable lines appear again and again. An imperfect but largely satisfying detective novel anchored by a charming and unforgettable heroine. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The private detective who gives her name to Heller's third novel is an oxygen tank- and Glock-toting sexagenarian who tracks down missing persons with "a better find rate than the F.B.I." After agreeing to investigate the disappearance of a National Geographic photographer who was ostensibly mauled by a bear 20 years back, but whose adult daughter suspects foul play, Celine and her husband/Watson set out for Yellowstone from Denver in a borrowed truck and camper. Heller impresses in this fine novel about parents and children and the secrets we try to keep from one another, but dueling story lines, however important to our understanding of Celine and her aristocratic past, occasionally dull the excitement of the road-trip investigation and interrupt the sleuths' banter, ft's the quiet breaks from the momentum of the investigation, in the roadside diners over late meals or tucked away in the camper at night to talk over the case, when the novel glows. An adventure writer and contributor to Outside magazine, Heller gracefully describes the contours of the West and the effect they have on the careful observer. As Celine writes in a letter to her son: "The miles of rolling sage and rabbit brush, the surprising flecks of antelope like splashes of paint, red and white, the distant dry mountains and the incessant wind, they feel remote, untouchable somehow. They make me feel remote." Well put, but not at all the case for Heller's reader.

*Starred Review* Heller's The Painter (2014) verged on crime fiction, and now he takes the plunge, once again portraying an artist, this time a blue-blooded sculptor with a fondness for skulls who also happens to be a righteous PI. Living in Brooklyn and about to turn 70 two years after 9/11, former avid smoker Celine is suffering from emphysema and determined to concentrate on her art and her strange cat husband, Pete, whom she met in AA. But Celine became a sleuth to help people find missing family members, having survived high-society scandals and wrenching losses, so she can't say no when young, striking Gabriela asks her to determine if her father, a famous National Geographic photographer, was actually killed by a bear in Yellowstone 23 years ago. Celine and Pete head West, borrow her son's camper, and launch a deceptively leisurely investigation showcasing Celine's appreciation for public libraries and passion for firearms, venturing into international cover-ups, and culminating in hilarious showdowns in which wit is the mightiest weapon. As for laconic Pete, he's got his beloved's back and her oxygen. This captivating, tender, brainy, and funny tale of the mysterious powers of beauty and grief, nature and family will leave readers hoping that Heller is planning a National Park series featuring this stealthy, irrepressible duo.--Seaman, Donna Copyright 2017 Booklist