The Gold Coffin Murder Case

In The Gold Coffin Murder Case, Golden Age detective novelist George F. Worts' greatest creation, Gillian Hazeltine ends up with an explosive mixture on his hands. His client is a socialite, famed for socking frolicsome dates in the jaw; his assistant is a box-office superstar with an LLD, determined to prove he's not just an actor; his opponent is the defendant's former lover a man now ruthlessly determined to prove her guilty. It's 1934, gold prices are soaring and the federal government has called in all its gold coins. But Waldo Chine, a wealthy client of Hazeltine's, has set up a furnace in the basement of his niece's home and is melting down coins then reselling the gold to the mint as newly mined metal. Then Waldo Chine's ashes are found embedded in an enormous block of gold. Suspicion points to Chine's heiress and niece, Brenda, whose emeralds are discovered in the gold among his ashes. Fowler Shank, a foundry operator who confesses to assisting Chine in his scheme, claims Brenda hit the old man over the head, shoved him in the mold and released the molten gold to destroy the body. Gillian agrees to defend Brenda, only to find the man charged with prosecuting her is Stewart Noon, her former fiancé, now convinced of her guilt. His defense is complicated by the presence of Dale Torrent, a movie star with a law degree, who Gillian had promised could share in his next case. The unskilled Torrent has fallen for Brenda, and insists on handling the defense himself. Can Gillian untangle the clues in time to identify the real killer, and if he does, can he get anyone to believe the truth? Here's a mystery with a comic twist that will keep you on the edge of your seat.