A medical missionary in post-WWII Paris is out to solve the murder of a nightclub singer in this 1955 mystery by the author of The Devil in the Bush.

Paris at the height of its post-War chic

is a far cry from the African backwaters that Hoop Taliaferro has been calling home. But with his American charm and American dollars, he fits in anywhere. He especially fits in at the Flea Club, a naughty nightclub for people who have pretty tame ideas of naughty. The real draw is Nicole, a third-rate chanteuse singing sad songs for the bored expats holding up the bar. When someone silences the music, it falls to Hoop to put things right.

Sleuthing and the arrival of Dr. Mary Finney

Sleuthing’s not really Hoop’s line. He runs more to clever quips and nicely ironed khakis. But he is saved, once again, by the timely arrival of the redoubtable Dr. Mary Finney. Stomping through the City of Light in her sensible shoes, Mary is everything Nicole wasn’t—including one step ahead of her killer.