"Mystery begets mystery for private eye Jim Sader in this hardboiled classic by one of America's pioneering women crime writers. What starts as a missing persons case grows more puzzling with the discovery of another strangely coincidental disappearance. Sader finds himself deep in a multilayered intrigue revolving around oil and real estate and the sleazy underpinnings of Long Beach, California, in the 1950s. Taut, suspenseful, and gritty: many consider this Dolores Hitchens'. best novel" -- back cover.