72. By A Spider's Thread

Yet another great one by Laura Lippman! And set in the parts of Baltimore I'm most familiar with which makes it even better!

I definitely recommend reading these in order because they do reference prior books a lot - so really, you should just read them all.

Here's the description from B&N: Mark Rubin's family is missing -- and the police won't do a thing because all the evidence indicates his wife left willingly. The successful furrier turns to Tess Monaghan, hoping she can help him find his wife and three children. Tess doesn't know what to make of Rubin, a wealthy Orthodox Jew who doles out vitally important information in grudging dribs and drabs. According to Rubin, he and his beautiful wife, Natalie, had a flawless, happy marriage. Yet one day, without any warning or explanation, Natalie gathered up their children and vanished.

Tess is able to locate the runaway wife and her stolen progeny, moving furtively from state to state, town to town, but the Rubins are not alone. A man is traveling with them -- a stranger, described as "handsome" and "charming" but otherwise unremarkable to casual observers who have no way of sensing the fury beneath his smooth surface.

An intricate web of betrayal and vengeance is already beginning to unravel, as memory begets rage and rage leads to desperation ... and murder. Suddenly much more than one man's future happiness and stubborn pride are in peril; the lives of three innocent children are dangling by the slenderest of threads.