After I Am Gone by Laura Lippman

"Sandy" Sanchez, a retired Baltimore detective working cold cases for some extra cash, discovers a tangled web stretching over three decades that connects five intriguing women, Felix Brewer's wife, mistress, and daughters. Brewer's mistress, Julie Saxon, disappeared twenty three years after Brewer himself went missing, and everyone thought she had gone to join him--until her remains were discovered.

You may want to check out this Baltimore Sun account of the Salsbury fraud case, a true crime that is the loose basis for the story: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2006-10-21/news/0610210290_1_bookmaking-gambling-baltimore You can visit the author's website at http://www.lauralippman.net

The Cleveland Park Mystery Book Club meets at 6:30 on the first Thursday of the month (except December) at Teaism, 400 8th Street, N.W.