About the author: Elwyn Whitman Chambers (1896-1968) was a novelist of hard-boiled detective stories, primarily set in the Oakland and San Francisco areas. He was also a writer for the television series 77 Sunset Strip.
Major characters:
- Stanton Lake, Private Investigator
- Abe Bloom, his assistant
- Hilda Hann, a.k.a. Hilda Viborg; Danish film star
- Theodore Raybourne, Hilda's boyfriend, "a rat".
- Inez Raybourne, Theodore's half-sister
- Dr. Jacques Pageot, Inez's fiancé
- Rufus Raybourne, Theodore's father
- Maurine Raybourne, Rufus' young trophy wife
- Rae Amerton, a medium
- Farley Amerton, Rae's husband
- Fong Woo, the Raybourne servant
- John Royal, convict, is he dead or not?
- Sheriff Catalin, sheriff
- Lenny McManus, sheriff's deputy
Locale: San Francisco, CA
Synopsis: Private Eye Stanton Lake is approached by Danish film star Hilda Hann. She is travelling to the US incognito with her overbearing boyfriend, Theodore Raybourne. They are staying at his parents' beach house in Dipsea, near San Francisco; and there she is using the alias Hilda Viborg. She hires Lake to spring her from Theodore's clutches.
Also at the beach house are Theodore's father (Rufus Raybourne) and his young trophy wife (Maurine), her daughter (Inez), Inez' fiancé (Dr. Jacques Pageot), and the household servant (Fong Woo). Also present are spiritulist Rae Amerton and her husband Farley.
Lake manages to install himself in the household by faking a swimming distress incident. While recuperating, Theodore is found dead, having been struck with a fireplace poker. Fingerprints on the poker are examined, and found to belong to John Royal - who had died ten years earlier while in prison.
Review: I had a hard time liking Stanton Lake. He is a hard-boiled tough guy straight out of the pulps and asks questions with his fists. He also lies a lot, bullies the police around, digs up corpses, and generally messes around with evidence. I almost DNF'd the book, but being about halfway through, decided to stick with it to see how the fingerprint issue was resolved. It was a clever method, but a stretch to believe.
There is a big buildup about spiritism and Rae Amerton holding a seance, but nothing comes of it - no seance is ever held.
There is a lot of technical details about fingerprints, leading to a detailed explanation of how a dead man's fingerprints could start appearing ten years after his death.
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