"I opened the office door to our potential client just as she was about to take one of the half dozen stiff-backed chairs that made up our waiting room. She looked at me timidly. Somehow, she seemed to shrink into herself, occupying less space than even her small body should. Everything about her screamed "trouble" to me. This gut feeling wasn't private investigator's instincts, I was too new at the game to claim that. It was taxi driver's instincts: she was the kind of woman who would ask to be taken to the railway station, then break down crying after three blocks, telling me to turn the cab around and take her back where I picked her up. And then the tip would be lousy."

Los Angeles, 1946. A woman walks into rookie private investigator Joy D'Amico's office and asks for help finding her father. A simple enough case, except he's also Joy's father. What should be a straightforward missing persons case rapidly descends into murder, forgery, and threats from dangerous mobsters where nobody is who they seem. Aided by her brilliant partner Dot Stone and thrill-seeking socialite Virginia Townsend, Joy must untangle the lies before she joins the lengthening list of victims.