Critical Mass, Sara Paretsky

V.I. Warshawski, or Vic to her friends is drawn into the investigation of a missing meth addict and her genius son.

Vic’s long term friend Dr. Lotty Herschel shares a past with the missing woman’s grandmother who refused point blank to let her grandson Martin go to college. What seems like a simple addict on the run case turns complicated as Vic uncovers connections between the great grand mother and a nobel winning Austrian scientist who worked on the Manhattan project and her investigation is ruffling some pretty high level feathers…