It is June, 1929. The Roaring Twenties are still "roaring" but the period is doomed. San Francisco's celebrated Cyrus Skeen, private detective, and scion of Eastern wealth, is secure in his solvency; he has never bought stock on margin. He is as finicky about what stocks to invest in as he is in the kind of client he is willing to accept and work for. Soon after his case in The Head of Athena, he is approached by Susan Harker, wife of Hosanna Harker,...