Michael Garrett Mystery

Early in 1948, L.A. private detective Michael Garrett comes to Philadelphia to testify in a missing persons case. While there he is asked to travel to the small town of Lancaster in western Pennsylvania, where he is hired by the alluring Lenore Stevens to find her missing husband, Charles. Finding him turns out to be easy. He is stretched out on a bed in a dubious place called the Shady Lodge Motel with a bullet in his chest and a gun in his hand. The local cops first call it suicide but then decide it's murder and come to suspect Garrett. To prove his own innocence and keep his agreement with Lenore Stevens, Garrett must find the real killer. In the process he encounters threatening gangsters, corrupt police officers, and a demanding mob boss who owns and operates a local casino called the Silver Club. Compounding this challenge, Garrett comes to realize that the question is not who would want to kill the man whose business employs most of the town's residents, but how many would want him dead?

In late September 1948, LA private detective Michael Garrett is hired to find another detective who has apparently gone missing. Garrett soon finds the missing man alone in his office, sitting behind his desk with a bullet hole in his chest. The search for the killer takes Garrett into the wealthy suburbs north of LA. There he meets a rich and powerful attorney, who is often called "a friend of the underworld" and who is written about on the society pages as much as on the crime beat. Complicating matters further, the attorney's wife and his secretary both become interested in Garrett, but not just for professional reasons. I stood there and looked at her, a bright young girl who had no more idea of what it took to be a detective than I had about raising elephants. Only, she wanted to tag along with me. It didn't make good sense, but not much else did either. I leaned against the door and pushed my hat back on my head. "All right, get dressed. We're going to a party."