Stout, Rex - Might As Well Be Dead (1957)

A midwestern businessman named James Herold hires Wolfe and Archie to find his son, Paul, who left home twelve years ago after being accused of theft. His name has now been cleared, but all Herold knows is that he's in New York somewhere. Faced with this impossible task, Wolfe resorts to advertising for a P.H. - and finds one, a convicted murderer called Peter Hayes.

Hayes's lawyer thinks that he has been framed. Hayes's lover, the victim's wife, thinks he did it. Archie thinks Hayes might be Herold. There's a great deal of work for Wolfe, and Archie loses a colleague to a particularly bloodthirsty killer, before the real criminal is finally brought to book.

A good average Wolfe story, although the investigation is helped along by a few lucky coincidences, and a fact which may not be obvious to a modern reader.

Jon.