It is 1946, and Frank O'Brian is a gumshoe in New York, in other words a private investigator. Having just qualified as a lawyer when the US entered WWII, he quits to work as a field agent for the Office of Strategic Services in Europe. On returning to New York, he found the notion of returning to the law too tame and hung up his PI shingle. In his first big case, the Vanowen case, he is involved in murder, blackmail, and double dealing. Using his wide range of skills, O’Brian quickly solves the mystery.

Following the high-profile case, O’Brian is able to pick and choose his next case. When a retired general visits him, distraught that his daughter has been kidnapped, O’Brian agrees to take the case. Is General Simpson’s distress an act? Hired to pay the ransom, things spiral out of control for O’Brian, and he realizes he hasn’t been told the truth, and all is not as it seems.

In the third case of this trilogy, the Sandover twins case, one of the twins hires O'Brian to find her missing sister. The girls are actresses, and Frank is dragged into the New York theater world, where it is not all glamour, fame, and riches. Were the twins tipped for the top? Frank knows time is of the essence. With the support and help of his assistant, Zelda, and his new partner, Luis Garcia, a Cuban immigrant and ex-cop, he sets out to find the missing girl.

As with all Henke novels, the twists and turns of these stories continue right up to the end.