From an Albany hospital bed, John - forensic psychologist (retired), stay-at-home dad (his day job), and casual private detective (his other day job) - tells the story of his attempt to find Richie Curtz, a white middle-aged man, missing now for over a month. There are the usual leads for his disappearance: corruption, infidelity, health problems. But for John, the Nostalgia Detective, there is something about Richie's 'last seen wearing' Grunge-era outfit and his upcoming fortieth birthday to suggest that the 1990s itself should be added to the list of probable causes. The search takes John from Perth to the greater South West of Western Australia, as he traces the history of a man who leaves very few traces, all the while dealing with his own anxieties, paranoia, Gen-X cynicism, and some unwelcome intrusions from the past.
