Ivor Maddox and his men of the Hollywood police department face, as ever, a formidable load of tricky and puzzling cases.

An unknown woman walks into a lawyer's office and shoots him dead: who is she and what is her motive? A housewife in a reputable neighbourhood is found slaughtered. And, perhaps oddest of all, a woman uses her alleged psychic powers to reveal that a missing schoolgirl is being held captive in the Hollywood area.

'My favourite American crime-writer' New York Herald Tribune