The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau: A Historical Thriller by Raymond Brunet (Thorndike Press Large Print Bill's Bookshelf)

Socially awkward and perpetually ill at ease, Manfred Baumann spends his evenings drinking and surreptitiously observing Adèle Bedeau, the sullen but alluring waitress at a drab bistro in the small French town of Saint-Louis. One day, she vanishes into thin air. Georges Gorski, a detective haunted by his failure to solve one of his first murder cases, is called in to investigate. He sets his sights on Manfred.