Flesh Wounds

I just finished reading Flesh Wounds, a private detective novel by Stephen Greenleaf. It was an advanced reading copy (an ARC) that I found on my bookshelf while looking for something to read. The story features John Marshall Tanner, a San Francisco private eye, who travels to Seattle to help an ex-girlfriend find her soon-to-be stepdaughter, who has gone missing. I liked the book, and decided I might want to read others in the series. I still do, but was surprised to find that this ARC came out in 1996, and the author has long since retired from writing. Has this book been sitting on my bookshelf for the past 26 years, did I pick it up at a "Beautiful Junk" sale more recently, or did I obtain it in some other way? Twenty-six years is a long time to let a book to sit on a shelf, even for me. I very well might read the other books in the series, but first, I definitely need to go through all the clutter in my apartment. After 35 years living in the same building, things just seem to collect. Big time. Perhaps one of those services that make junk disappear just by pointing at it is the answer. They advertise on television, so it must be true, right?