It is early February 1930. This is the twenty-sixth Cyrus Skeen detective novel. Cyrus Skeen finds himself at odds with a Hollywood gossip magazine that wants to splash his name around. But then odd things begin to happen, and details of Skeen's life not otherwise available to the public, or that are not even true and to newspapermen, begin to emerge in scandal sheets. The culprit might be Harry Getz, the brother of Horace Getz, a local newspaper reporter. Harry is an ambitious journalist who writes for Hollywood Hush!, a gossip magazine that specializes in alleged dirt uncovered on noted Hollywood celebrities. Or the culprit might be Joshua Imbry, who owns and subsidizes Hollywood Hush! The problem is that Skeen is not a Hollywood celebrity and in fact does not like any kind of publicity, legitimate or not. Skeen investigates and uncovers a plot to discredit him, a plot that is a form of vengeance and a continuation of a civic group's past campaign to deny him his private investigator's license and put him out of business.