Marlowe is hired by an influential lawyer he's never herd of to tail a gorgeous redhead, but decides he prefers to help out the redhead. She's been acquitted of her alcoholic husband's murder, but her father-in-law prefers not to take the court's word for it.

''Chandler wrote like a slumming angel and invested the sun-blinded streets of Los Angeles with a romantic presence:'' -- Ross Macdonald