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The Way Some People Die, Ross Macdonald

from Wikipedia:
Middle-aged Mrs. Samuel Lawrence gives Lew Archer 50 dollars for one day of his time to find her daughter Galatea (a.k.a. Galley) who has been missing since just before Christmas. Archer soon discovers she was married to a small-time mobster named Joe Tarantine. Starting the investigation in the most likely place, with Tarantine’s brother, Mario, Lew finds the man in the hospital after a severe beating that has left him almost unrecognizable. And shortly after that, a big-time mobster offers him five thousand to find Tarantine. The investigation quickly gains a body count and Lew is constantly drawn from Los Angeles to Pacific Point (a fictionalized version of La Jolla[1] ), Palm SpringsSan Francisco, and back again, trying to tie together details that seem as random as they are violent. As the bodies pile up, so does Archer’s confusion, but he remains undeterred by the situation, relying on his well-honed instinct for deviant behavior and the venal intentions of others. Still, the bodies accumulate at an alarming rate, a handsome part-time actor found dead in his apartment, a newlywed husband on the lam, a boat piled on the rocks, fast-talking women, everybody with a handout or hidden agenda.

Plot:  Mom calls in Lew Archer to find her missing daughter.
Daughter has run off with Tarantine who is involved in heroin.
Archer tracks her down.  Keith, a friend of Tarantine, gets killed.
Tarantine takes his brother's boat and fakes his own death.

Archer after Tarantine and still after the girl.

A prostitute tells Archer that she's headed to SF for heroin--are all the various pieces of the plot headed there?

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