Sandler Crane, Private Eye

The story opens in September, 1943 with the war raging in Europe and Asia. Sandler Krane, a former policeman from San Diego, is in the midst of starting his business as a private investigator in the rapidly expanding Portland, OR area. The Northwest city had become a bustling port town during the 1940's due to the war effort and the influx of workers who toiled in the shipyards. As workers poured into the area they brought prosperity but crime and illegal vices soon followed.

  Even with the increase in population, clients are not easy to obtain and consist mostly of cheating husbands, philandering wives, missing children and other civil cases.

  On a day like all others, a stroke of random luck occurs and a potentially lucrative case drops into his lap.  As the investigation broadens, Sandler finds himself in the midst of illegal gambling, murders and gangsters with greed at the heart of it.  Kranes' skills as an investigator are stretched in every direction and he becomes the target of hit men that menace his very existence.  Extricating himself from several perilous situations, he tirelessly follows the clues and with the help of his friend, Sammy, a Portland Police detective, tenaciously traces the evidence and eventually is able to resolve an extremely puzzling and intricate case.