Sughrue, however, resists her attempts to control him, partly because he's fallen a little in love with Melinda and partly because he doesn't want Trahearne to be controlled. The seductive Catherine manipulates Sughrue into having sex with her, with the clear intent of gaining his help in her attempts to control her ex-husband. He's not so surprised when he discovers that Catherine and Edna both despise Melinda, and want control over Trahearne, his life, and his work. Sughrue is surprised to learn that Trahearne's ex-wife Catherine and mother Edna live together in a house just across the street where Trahearne lives with his current wife, Melinda.

While all of this is going on, Sughrue is also taking care of the frequently drunk, desperately sexual, deeply troubled Trahearne, driving back and forth between the investigations in California and Trahearne's home in Montana. While investigating that facility, Sughrue is told that Betty Sue is dead. All three provide information that lead Sughrue and Trahearne to eventually discover that Betty Sue briefly worked in the porn industry, that as a result of being in that industry she was at one point thrown in jail, and that after her release she went to a countryside rehabilitation facility. Rosie gives Sughrue a list of people Betty Sue was close with before she left-her former drama teacher, her ex-boyfriend, and her best friend in high school. Sughrue reluctantly agrees-against his better judgment, he enjoys Trahearne's company. When he hears of this, Trahearne insists that he accompany Sughrue on his investigation-for a lark, he says. While he's waiting for Trahearne to be released, Sughrue is hired by bar owner Rosie to find her beloved daughter Betty Sue, missing for ten years. A confrontation in the bar results in Trahearne's being slightly injured and put in hospital. Sughrue eventually learns that Trahearne is a famous novelist and respected poet, but when he finds him in a run-down bar in Sonoma California, Trahearne is just another drunk on the run from a domineering ex-wife. The novel begins at the end of Sughrue's search for the missing Abraham Trahearne. 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. A parallel narrative explores the complex relationship between Sughrue, a wandering alcoholic novelist, and the three powerful women in the novelist's life. 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.

The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley