Michael Mayo – författare

A bomb goes off behind Jimmy Quinn''s speakeasy. He figures it has something to do with the books that arrived in the mail-ledgers filled with columns of cryptic handwritten letters and numbers. What about the smooth Nazi who says he wants to buy Jimmy''s place? Why is a "moderately corrupt" police detective suddenly interested in "helping" Jimmy? Then there''s the girl from Jimmy''s past who just reappeared and has a hell of a story to tell.

There''s also a missing $100,000. Numbers boss Jacob "the Wise" Weiss thinks that Jimmy has it. His enforcer, the fearsome Mercer Weeks, is keeping a close eye on Jimmy. And there''s a dead guy in the warehouse, beaten to death and carrying a union card identifying him as Jimmy Quinn.

In March, 1933, Fay Wray is on hand for the world premiere of King Kong at the Radio City Music Hall. But she''s upset because she''s just received an extortion note from someone claiming to have dirty pictures of her. She swears it''s not her in the pictures but for a mere $6,000 the studio bosses just want it to go away.

           They hire Jimmy Quinn to deliver the cash and he finds himself caught up in a twisted tangle of sex, revenge, pornography and power. It leads him from a cold empty Park Avenue mansion to the labyrinth of Chinatown. All the while, he''s trying to figure out why Connie Nix is so angry with him, and Miss Wray is worrying about how her wayward Hollywood husband will react if he finds out about the pictures.

In 1931 famous author Willie Seabrook agrees to help a desperate young actress who''s the victim of voodoo. He hires Continental detective Theodore Opperman. With Jimmy''s help, they discover a plot that threatens three other women and even Jimmy''s speakeasy.

Two years later, Willie has been hitting the booze much too hard and he asks Jimmy''s help when the original threat reappears. Mrs. Opperman provides another gun when she, Willie, Jimmy and Connie go out to Couffignal House, a cliffside mansion on the North Shore for a violent conclusion.