It is March 1935. The Great Depression is at its peak; Prohibition was recently repealed; and for millions of people across the country, syndicated columnist and sophisticate Alexander Brass is the voice of Manhattan high society and nightlife. When a mysterious man tries to interest Brass in photos of prominent people engaged in questionable acts, Brass is intrigued and has the stranger followed. But the stringer who was following him is murdered, his body found in the offices of an anti-Nazi group in Yorkville, and Brass finds himself in the middle of something far more sinister than simple blackmail. With the help of his aide-de-camp Morgan DeWitt and research assistant Gloria, Brass follows a trail that leads past the rich and famous such as a United States senator and Charles Lindbergh. All too quickly, they discover themselves in the midst of a most dangerous game in which, if they are too late smart, they'll be too soon dead.

It is 1935 and America remains in the depths of the Great Depression - Benny Goodman is the "King of Swing," Senator Huey Long was just assassinated, and Joe Louis has just beaten Primo Carnera in the boxing ring. To millions of Americans, Alexander Brass, newspaper columnist and radio personality, is the voice of Manhattan nightlife, and they rely on him for the latest gossip about the stars and the beautiful people, the gangsters and the lowlifes, who make up the scene. While researching his column at the latest hot spot, Alexander Brass learns that Two-Headed Mary, a renowned and beloved grifter who works the Broadway theaters, is missing and that her friends on the Street are worried. Brass runs a short item in his column about her disappearance and shortly thereafter he finds himself in the midst of a full-scale mystery. Not only does Mary's disappearance seem tied to the disappearance of an ex-chorus girl cum Broadway box-office ticket taker, but Brass learns that someone else out there is far too interested in Mary's whereabouts.