THE BRASS HALO

The cop and the cleric team up- with a bit of assist from Sam Golden's newly appointed superior -- to solve (a) the knifing of a private eye (with a bit of reputation for blackmail) in a hot spot star's dressing room; (b) the disappearance of the lovely and mysterious star, a blues' singer; (c) the murder of a girl gone wrong, for whom Father Shanley feels the guilt of neglect; (d) the part played by a shell-shocked Pacific War victim, now an artist and his devoted girl friend, whom he takes for granted. Complexities within complexities, fast moving, and with final rounding up of a pair of unpleasant guys whose incarceration deprives the world of nothing. Romance cum adventure.