Book excerpt: One reviewer referred to the well-loved third novel in Latimer's Bill Crane series as 'rough, rowdy and rum-soaked'. And true to form, just as in his previous investigations, Crane drinks his way through his current case, that of a young suicide whose body disappears just as Crane arrives on the scene. But is there any connection between this body, and the disappearance of a young woman from a wealthy New York family? In order to retrieve the missing body, and find the murderer, Crane must run the gauntlet of both local cops and gangsters, who believe he is implicated. As well as a fascinating mystery, The Lady in the Morgue is packed full of atmosphere and period detail, from its opening scene in a morgue to its frank treatment of drug addiction and references to contemporary music.