Rick Barron, a sharp, capable detective on the Beverly Hills force, finds himself demoted after he makes a mistake and has a run-in with a superior officer. But he soon lands a job other cops only dream about: the security detail for Centurion Pictures, one of the hottest studios in Hollywood's golden age of the late 1930s. How he lands that new post is quite something. As protector of the studio's interests, Barron looks after the elite of filmdom's stars - among them Clete Barrow, a British leading man with a penchant for parties, and Glenna Gleason, a peach of a talent on the verge of stardom. Rick's easy charm has society columnists dubbing him "the Prince of Beverly Hills," the white knight for movie stars. Then he stumbles across a murder cover-up and a blackmail scam that threaten the studio's business. They may have origins with some unsavory characters. When two suspicious deaths begin to look like a double murder, and an attempt is made on someone who has become an intimate friend, Barron knows he is up against wise guys whose stakes are nothing less than do-or-die. It's a dicey war of nerves. Librarian's note: this is one of two volumes in the author's Rick Barron series: 1. The Prince of Beverley Hills (2004), and 2. Beverley Hills Dead (2008).