Following a money trail leads a PI into danger in this hard-boiled mystery by the creator of Perry Mason and author of Turn on the Heat . Brainy private detective Donald Lam is always one step ahead of the bad guys--but he's also smaller than them and typically gets beat up. That's why his boss, the ever-irascible Bertha Cool, has hired a martial arts master to teach him self-defense. The first class isn't easy for Donald, but he is rewarded with a new client . Henry Ashbury is concerned about his daughter's recent spending habits. He wants Donald to find out where her money is going, without letting on that he's a detective. So, going undercover as Ashbury's trainer, Donald soon learns the story behind the daughter's finances. But when his investigation also turns up a dead body, the diminutive detective must teach the killer a lesson in justice .

"Lively wit and machinegun dialogue." --Ralph E. Vaughan, author of Murder in the Goblins' Playground "Gardner has a way of moving the story forward that is almost a lost art: great stretches of dialogue alternate with lively chunks of exposition, and the two work together perfectly, without sacrificing momentum." -- Booklist.