The central figure, Lacy Lockington, is a cop suspended from the force in Chicago when columnist "Stella Starbright" dubs him a kill-crazy officer, more dangerous than the crooks he shoots. Approached by Duke Denny, a private detective, Lockington agrees to replace Moose Katzenbach, who is quitting Denny's agency. Thus the off-duty policeman meets Stella S., his nemesis, aka Erika Elwood. Begging his pardon and his help, Elwood says she is marked for murder by the people who have killed her predecessors on the newspaper.