It all started on a hot and unusually muggy day in L.A.  That's when Miss Frump knocked on the door to Johnny Spicer's office in the First National Bank building at Hollywood and Highland.  She was there on behalf of her employer, Miss Bette Davis, and the case Miss Davis needed Spicer's help with was so bizarre, it became Spicer's third novel-length caper.

This time H. P. Oliver's wise-cracking Hollywood gumshoe looks deeply into those famous Bette Davis eyes when the actress hires him to recover a $100,000 piece of African tribal art stolen from her home during a party with an Oscar-winning guest list.  It's solving capers like this one that earned Spicer a reputation as Hollywood's go to private eye when the chips are down.

Spicer's search for the missing objet d'art, known as the Ivonya-Ngia Tembo statuette, puts him hot on the trail of two cold-blooded killers who lead him on a treacherous high-speed chase from one end of California to the other, and Johnny brings you along in the passenger seat as he tells this hair-raising tale in his own words right up to the thrilling climax when he risks life and limb for the sake of art.  Along the way you'll meet many of the real-life characters and encounter the plausible, but ironic and unpredictable plot twists that are synonymous with an H. P. Oliver mystery/thriller.

Oh, in case you're wondering, "Tembo" is Swahili for "elephant."  Now ain't ya glad you asked?