Book excerpt: Veda Rux, a beautiful blonde, known professionally as a stripper, steals a priceless Cellini dagger from the safe in millionaire Lindsay Brett's home. Her agent, Cornelius Gorman, approaches Floyd Jackson, a private investigator and first-rate blackmailer, and asks him to return the dagger before the theft is discovered. Jackson should have known there was something wrong with the whole situation, but, blinded by the beauty of Veda and more money than he had ever seen, he agreed to the proposition. From the moment he fell in love with Veda, his doom was sealed—he was caught up in a relentless intrigue that made him a cat's-paw for murder.