Signor Valentini stepped from his car, regally adjusted his fur-collared coat, bowed to the cheering crowd, and strode to the portals of his luxury hotel which he was about to open officially. He glanced at its architectural majesty with great pride. It was here he hoped to spend his declining years. He intended to make people speak of the hotel, not as the Superba, but as ‘Valentini’s.<P> With solemn dignity, Valentini inserted the golden key in the lock of the outer shutter, turned it, and grasping firmly at the ring on the lower end of the shutter—he was a vigorous man—swung it heartily upwards, revealing the handsome, revolving entrance doors—and the frosty-eyed corpse which stared negligently out at him through the glass panels!
Tony Gilmour and his friends Ron and Alan travel to Egypt to investigate the suspicious death of Ron’s father – but they are dogged by enemies who will stop at nothing to ensure that no one discovers the secret of the tomb of Ko LenTep!
Mike Spagliotti, the big-time racketeer, had enjoyed a successful life of crime, managing to evade police arrest. But that life had met a sudden and violent end, when he was found shot through the head in his New York hotel suite. He had seemingly died alone—with the doors of his suite locked. Two of his thugs were standing guard over him in the passage, as usual—and they swore they had heard nothing. The gun must have had a silencer. But the guards also swore they had let no one past. A perplexing problem for the Detective-Inspector Flannel, of Homicide, whose fiery temper is not improved when a troublesome lady newspaper reporter involves herself in his investigation!
June Mallory was seeking a victim. There was something hard and calculating in her eyes as her gaze swept over the crowded tables of the Silent Parrot night club.<P> She was very well known at the club—these last few weeks she had been a constant visitor. Yet she loathed the place. It looked cheap and nasty. Everywhere the paintwork was faded and drab; there were damp patches on the walls, and in many places the distemper was flaking so that it was the ruination of a dress if one stood too near. Yet, for some unknown reason, the Silent Parrot was popular. Society had taken it up. The service charges had leaped to fantastic heights but that only seemed to make the club more popular. Every night money flowed into the Silent Parrot, and because there was money there, June Mallory was a constant visitor.<P> It was her job to seek out men and money.