The Flanagan Files

About the Book

A Bucks County, Pennsylvania wife, Cathy Flanagan, vanishes.  She tells her mother-in-law she is driving down for a breakfast meeting at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  She does not return.  The next day her empty car is found at the Philadelphia Airport.  For five weeks the local police unsuccessfully search for her.  At that point her family hires a professional investigator.

Joe Walsh is a widower and a retiree from the New York Police Department.  He recently settled in Bucks County.  To live there after retirement had been the wish he and his wife had had for years.  At her death he carried out their desire.  To supplement his income and to have something to do, he advertised in the Yellow Pages as a Private Investigator.

A law firm approaches him to help the Flanagan family find out what happened to the wife of the family’s son and heir.  Joe accepts the task.  He begins to learn about Cathy and her marriage from her husband, Fred, and her in-laws.  They convey a picture of a happy marriage within a wealthy and comfortable existence.  Frederick Flanagan, Cathy’s father-in-law, ultimately wants Joe to sign a deposition after he has searched for Cathy.  He wants to use it in court to gain custody of his grandchildren, should anything happen to his son Fred.

From the family handyman, Peter Martucci, Joe hears that Cathy was unhappy, bored and almost lost in the world of the Flanagans.  Cathy’s parents tell Joe they despise the Flanagans and that Cathy had an unhappy marriage.  They refer Joe to one of Cathy’s girlfriends.  She tells him that, as far as she knows, Cathy and Fred had no sex life to speak of.  Cathy could only remember two occasions when they slept together, both times preceding her two pregnancies.  Joe begins to write files of his conversations with the different people who are helping him in his investigation of Cathy and her marriage.  From another friend of Cathy’s, Rosalie Goldstein, he learns there is a chance Fred is gay.  Rosalie says Fred made a move on her husband before they were married, years ago.

Joe meets with Clarence Thompson, the detective in charge of Cathy’s case.  Joe admits to Clarence that nothing is falling into place.  Everyone he talks to has a different view on the marriage.  He can’t decide if Cathy is dead or alive.  Clarence defends the Flanagan family.  They have enough trouble right now.  He won’t bother them unless Joe finds a smoking gun.

Joe revisits the Flanagan family.  He confronts the son with the stories he’s been hearing.  Fred says he didn’t think he would have to air his private life to Joe, but he will.  Cathy was the one uninterested in sex with him.  She’d been unfaithful to him from the first days of their marriage, starting on their honeymoon.  She had many other men, from college students to tennis pros.  Joe repeats what Rosalie said happened between her husband and Fred, years ago.  Fred corrects the impression Rosalie gave Joe.  It was Rosalie’s husband who made the pass.

The next evening Joe hears from Cathy.  She calls from Carmel, California.  She confirms what Fred told him of the marriage.  She married Fred for his money.  She never loved him.  She likes men.  Currently she’s off with a great guy, a Pennsylvania painter she’s known for months.  He helped her escape.  She wants nothing more to do with the Flanagans.  She’s willing to give up the children.

Joe calls Cathy’s family and friends, telling them of her call.  He visits Clarence.  They agree everybody’s been talking about two different women.  They don’t understand.  Joe completes the requested deposition.  With final payment from the Flanagans he decides to visit his daughter and her family in California.  While out there, h

About the Author

Jim Larkin is a husband and father, a grandfather, a retired actuary and a lover of a good story. He was born to Irish emigrant parents and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He has lived in Binghamton, New York and Hartford, Connecticut and now resides in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He is currently writing his fifth novel and recently revised his second, The Blue and the Black. He hopes his characters come alive to his readers and their behaviors are not predictable. Their actions concur with and are in conflict with a notion of moral order and his people have to learn to accept the consequences of what they do. Reflected in all of Mr. Larkin’s writings are the persuasive influence of his Irish Catholicism, his love of music and his belief in the redemptive power of grace and forgiveness.