Celine by Peter Heller

 

When Gabriela approaches private eye Celine, Celine isn't sure she wants to take the case.  Gabriela's father disappeared twenty years ago out in the wilderness of the West, thought to have been killed by a bear although his body was never recovered.  Celine is in her sixties and not sure she is physically up to what it will take to handle the case.  But Celine also lost family members as a young girl and her practice has been centered on reuniting families torn apart so she agrees to find out what happened all those years before.  

Celine and her husband, Pete, take off into the wilds of the park system in a camper.  Both are from the north, Yankees through and through.  Celine comes from an aristocratic family and she is elegant even through her age.  Pete is quiet and totally devoted to his wife.  Each comes at a problem from different angles and make an interesting combination of approaches.  There is some ambiguity in the man's disappearance.  He was a famous wildlife photographer and may have taken pictures of something someone didn't want to be documented.  Gabriela has her own son now and wants to put the mystery of her father's disappearance to bed before it's too late.  Can  this pair of older detectives find out what happened all those years ago?

Peter Heller is a must read for me.  His books has action but it is the characters I fall in love with.  Each is finely drawn and the reader can visualize them clearly, feeling as if they are someone well known sharing their story.  The importance of family is emphasized along with the difficulty of moving forward when there is a mystery about what happened to those you loved first and most.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.