[Dutton Guilt Edged Mystery 01] • Noir(ish)

It’s Los Angeles. June, 1947. In the wake of mobster Bugsy Siegel’s violent murder, Private Investigator Robert Grahame is confronted with a case unlike anything he’s ever faced before. Lizabeth Duryea, a stunning yet peculiar young woman, hires Grahame to find her brother, Dan Scott, and leaves him with a small, mysterious package for safekeeping. But Grahame’s investigation becomes much more complicated when another mob big shot gets an anonymous tip that Grahame killed Siegel and hid the evidence in his office.

With the help of LAPD’s only female detective, Lauren Stanwyck, Grahame tries to discern the truth behind his mysterious client’s improbable story and find out who really killed Bugsy Siegel—haunted by his lost love at every step. As he stares into the face of his own cloudy past and the face of the fantastic, Grahame--in the classic noir tradition--is tempted by a femme fatale, followed by a shadowy figure, beaten up, accused of murder, and threatened. Ultimately, he uncovers a most unexpected plot, one which jeopardizes his way of life and puts him in mortal danger.