This is a story about America in its pre-civil rights struggle, and how the brutal murder of an innocent Chicago boy forced the country to face its own ugliness. The impact of Emmett Till's brutal murder is told from the perspective of his neighborhood friends, and who he was before he became an unwilling symbol of the horror of racial hatred. His courageous mother, Mrs. Mamie (Till) Bradley, exhibited her strength and sense of justice when she refused to allow her son's casket to be closed for the funeral. The truth of what happened to her son was not only etched on his bloated and broken face but on the conscience of the country's psyche.

This is a new release of the original 1948 edition.

Bart Miller, owner of Morning Investigations of Sacramento, gets involved with an insurance scam when a new client finds herself named in a policy that will pay her husband a million dollars after a double indemnity clause kicks in next Wednesday, Valentines Day. Queen Antoinette Margarete Goodrich is convinced that she only has five days to live and Bart falls for the case hook, line and sinker. Queen Ann drives a classic '59 Corvette and Bart tools around in 'Bessie', a '49 Studebaker truck, the ultimate 'spy machine'. He soon falls in with Lieutenant Hurrain's gang at the Sacramento Sheriff's Department, who's investigating a Corvette car theft ring. Bart's office is full of various contraptions, gadgets and gismos. He lives in a renovated fire station, has a fetish for the unusual and things with motors. He loves his .45 Peacemaker, likes the numbers, spiked coffee, liquor, talks to his subconscious, lives the life of leisure and truly enjoys his women. This established gumshoe is something else His cell phone played 'I'm in the Mood.' "What's happened Rainbird? Are you aware it's 4:24 in the Morning?" "There's been an accident Bart, involving a '59 'vette, we found your contract in Ms. Goodrich's purse. Thought I'd call."

A story about America in its pre-civil rights struggle, and how the brutal murder of an innocent Chicago boy forced the country to face its own ugliness. The impact of Emmett Till's brutal murder is told from the perspective of his neighborhood friends and who he was before he became an unwilling symbol of the horror of racial hatred. His courageous mother, Mrs. Mamie (Till) Bradley, exhibited her strength and sense of justice when she refused to allow her son's casket to be closed for the funeral. The truth of what happened to her son was not only etched on his bloated and broken face but on the conscience of the country's psyche.