A private dick finds himself in the wrong place at the right time to get caught up in melodrama involving jewel thieves, a murder, a fortune-teller, a couple more murders, corruption, gangster's molls and all manner of seediness.

So we have all the makings of a rollicking tale, and Raymond Chander's second novel is very much that. With a punchy prose-style, his tone of voice, his oft-imitated (but seldom matched style) overcomes any sense of ludicrousness of the plot twists and turns.

Well worth chasing down and reading.