On the streets of a big city people smile and the lights are bright. But there is an alley world of darkness, double-dealing and death; in this world you need muscles and brains to take a step—and only the lucky ones live long.

These two worlds meet in Hotel Duarte. Johnny Killain had a fistful of experience with both worlds—and with Hotel Duarte:

The girl in 1109 was a schoolmarm from a small western town; but when she visited the city she left her morals at home, stripped off the drab veneer and became an armful of seething hell.

The “salesman” in 1938 peddled death on the side—until he turned up cold … very cold … on a hook in the hotel icebox.

Johnny had the keys to all the doors—to lust, love, greed … and murder!