Winter 1931. New York is in the grip of the Depression. When Rose Mahoney loses her typing job, the peppy, hardboiled blonde believes she will quickly find another. But soon, meager savings dwindling, she is homeless, cast alone into the underbelly of the cold, dark city . . . Val Lewton is remembered for his magnificent 1940s horror films, most famously Cat People, but before movies, Lewton was a prolific novelist. First published in 1932 and unavailable for over half a century, this racy, fantastically readable pulp-noir offers a strange and vivid snapshot of its era as it follows Roses' attempts to survive a world of despair, decadence, hypocrisy and greed, with only her wits to protect her. Preface by Val E. Lewton Afterward by Damien Love