Carnal Hours

Max Allan Collins

In July 1943, Nate Heller flies to Nassau where multimillionaire Sir Harry Oakes wants dirt dug up on Count De Marigny, the playboy who has married Harry's beautiful, underage daughter, Nancy. But the investigation has barely begun when Sir Harry turns up dead in bed - burned to death in a real-life locked-room mystery - and Heller is soon working for Nancy, whose husband faces murder charges. Chicago P.I. Heller is on his most intriguing - and dangerous - mission yet in this devilishly clever thriller filled with surprising twists and sharp turns. With the world at war, the peaceful Bahamas provide an ironic, idyllic backdrop for Nazis, the mafia, and two lovely women: one a native girl, the other an aristocratic Englishwoman. Heller is aided by a certain British secret service agent ("Fleming...Ian Fleming"), and encounters along the way the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Meyer Lanksy, and Perry Mason's creator, Erle Stanley Gardner.