The story of not-very-successful actor Tim Briscoe, who is called to his agent's office only to find her dead when he gets there, impaled through the chest with her memo spike. Rather than calling the police, Tim panics and grabs her appointment book because it has not only his name down for seeing her that day, but his good friend and fellow unsuccessful actor, Maggie. Having been at the scene, Tim doesn't believe the death is a drunken accident as the police say, but murder, and he sets out to prove it, even though he and Maggie have just gotten their first theater work in months and have to investigate in between rehearsals.
Fast moving with some snappy dialogue and humor, as both Tim and Maggie are acting according to the gangster movies they've seen. I don't want to give away too much, but the story turns out to be a bit more modern than expected for a book published in 1948. ( )