I picked up this 1960 Dell paperback for the tasteful Robert Maguire cover, which honestly has no relation whatsoever to the plot. This paperback also offered the opportunity to try out Hugh Pentecost, an author I had heard of but never read. The story, set in New York City in the late 50s, has a strong Hollywood theme, with several major characters being actors, agents, producers, and so forth. Pentecost stuffs so many plot elements and characters into the story that it was a little exhausting to read. This book is apparently counted as number 2 in the Lieutenant Pascal series, but in addition to the lieuenant we also have an amateur turned detective and his private secretary sidekick. Then there's the large cast of suspects, several of whom are not differentiated enough until too late in the plot. Nonetheless it's an enjoyably fast-paced tale of a 24-hour hunt for a killer. ( )