In 1946 Chicago, Nathan Hellerpresident of the flourishing A-1 Detective Agencyis hired to protect racing-wire gambling chief James Ragen, who is nonetheless shot down on the streets of Chicago. Not one to take such an affront sitting down, Nate goes after the killer, but hes in for the biggest surprise of his career. Demonstrating once again that he is the master of true-crime fiction, Max Allan Collins story of the birth of Las Vegasand the dirty deeds that floated all around itis a masterpiece of modern noir. Heller follows the trail as it leads to Hollywood and Las Vegas, specifically to Benjamin Bugsy Siegel, but when he proves Siegels innocence, Heller and the suave gangster wind up friendsand rivals for the love of Nates life. Bugsy hires Heller as security chief of the under-construction Flamingo hotel, where mob bag woman Virginia Hill is a dangerous, if glamorous, distraction. It all comes to a boil with a shocking mob assassination in Beverly Hills that sends Heller into a fever-dream ride of vengeance.