What’s Left to Learn
, part mystery part romance, renders the story of a former academic turned vintage car expert in pursuit of a manipulative, philandering photographer who disappeared nineteen years ago. The novel updates the tropes of writers such as Raymond Chandler and Walter Mosley by developing the male protagonist’s evolving view of women. Self-consciously witty, drawn to women who are both covert and beautiful, and driven by a primal need to understand the world’s dark secrets, Michael Drayton finds himself attracted to an intelligent if cautious woman whose emotional wounds seem linked to the missing photographer.The protagonist grows increasingly urgent in his search for the photographer. A valuable, bullet-strewn car with artistic photos in the glove box, photos that will surely embarrass their subjects, compels the protagonist to discover what happened to the car’s long-gone owner. Rendered in tight, fluid prose, the protagonist is not only compelled to solve what turns out to be multiple mysteries revolving around the talented if ethically challenged photographer; he discovers insights into his own understanding of heterosexual relationships as well as changing notions about ideal beauty and even the deepest components of attraction.