Framed for murder, a private eye and a lounge singer are running for their lives on the mean streets of 1950s Manhattan. Lawrence Lariar was one the most popular cartoonists of the twentieth century. But from the 1940s through the 1960s, he also crafted a line of lean and mean detective and mystery novels under his own name as well as the pseudonyms Michael Stark, Adam Knight, Michael Lawrence, and Marston La France. Lariar now gets his due as a leading artist in hardboiled crime fiction. Chicago shamus Mike Wells can think of safer ways to make a buck than tangle with the mob. But gangster Rico Bruck's request is simple: Tail some fat stooge named Sidney Wragge, join him on the Twentieth Century bound for New York, and report back. Besides, the ride comes with a hot bonus: Bruck's sexy private secretary, Toni Kaye, who's snuck out from under the mobster's thumb. The aspiring singer wants a crack at the Manhattan club scene, and with Mike's connections she's got a good chance to knock 'em dead. So far, the only one who's dropped is Wragge, found with the life beaten out of him in Mike's hotel room. A dupe in a frame-up, Mike's next job is to find the killer before the cops find him'and a vengeful Bruck comes looking for Toni.