Yet there is something a little too pat about the case; something smells—to high heaven.

Mr. and Mrs. Fremont are tearfully anxious to find their daughter—yet they refuse to talk about Gracie Rehak, a girl who went to Chicago at the same time as their daughter. And bleary Old Man Rehak is no help—his reaction to questions about Gracie is profane, and he blames Bertha Lund. No wonder. Bertha turns out to be a mannish and coldly efficient woman who maintains—of all things—a spotlessly decorated white office upstairs over a down-at-the-heels saloon. An office for what? Apparently the sky's the limit.

Before he even gets back to Chicago, Paul Pine is knocked cold and involved in a brutal murder. Why?

From here through the highest stratum of Chicago's social and financial world the story whirls through a welter of violence and blood to a climax that can only be called sensational.

Battered but determined, Paul doggedly follows his slender leads toward Laura Fremont—but he keeps encountering the name of Gracie Rehak. A dapper stranger offers him money to reveal his interest in Gracie. It is a rocky road the private detective must travel. From sleazy rooming houses and third-rate apartments to the luxurious homes of the city's most exclusive residential sections; from a notorious night club and a gambling spot to a strange twilight world of women without men—the search goes on.

And murder follows murder as Paul Pine begins to find out too much about people who would rather have their identities kept secret.

The final solutions of the sinister prelude is a triumph for Paul Pine's psychological insight as well as his ability to stand up under rough stuff and even play a lone hand against the police. His reading of character leads to the final exposé in a tense and dramatic scene. You'll probably think you know the answer when the payoff comes—but you'll be wrong!

Yet there are no tricks. Author John Evans in his latest and best Paul Pine yarn has done a great job of characterization, combined with the hard, fast action and pungent dialogue for which he has acquired a solid reputation. His books are absorbing novels written with skill and a fine regard for reality. And "private eye" Paul Pine, who has been ranked in the select company of such characters of detective fiction as Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, gives them all a run for their money in this satisfying thriller.

[Originally from 1949, with all the social attitudes that that might entail. Reader discretion is advised.]