Detective Philip Marlowe encounters a variety of characters while checking on why Leslie Murdock stole a rare doubloon from his mother.

Philip Marlowe is hired when a rare doubloon is stolen, and he soon discovers that it is being used for blackmail purposes. Marlowe's involvement has him encounter a girl who goes into hysterics when touched by a man; a domineering mother; three corpses; a couple of scuffles in which he gets his clock cleaned; a secretary who killed her boss, which is the reason Raymond Chandler called his story "The High Window", and a rich boy (who qualifies as a S.O.B. by two definitions) who is having trouble with the Mafia. So, what's not to like.—Les Adams <[email protected]>