The novel tells the story of a beautiful woman about eighteen years old who turns to a detective for help since her twin sister has disappeared. The story begins so.
Although it doesn’t tell when happened, I know the story is set in Los Angeles during a week.
One day the twins arrange to have dinner together, but one of them doesnt’n come. Her sister telephones her, but there is no answer and she doesn’t go to work to her office. After that she goes round to her flat, but there is no one there, so she comes to see a private detective. He finds out that the woman disappeared usually goes to the Cabanas Club with a colleague. She meets a wonderful man who works as a drummer there. The detective investigates this man but he discovers that he has diedd in his bath. The detective calls the police and he is arrested as main suspect of murder. Later he tells the Sergeant that he is a detective and he sets him free. He goes to the disappeared woman´s flat and he notices something unusual. There are very few clothes in the wardrobe. It seems she has planned her disappareance quite carefully. Then he meets her sister at Las Cabanas to ask her some questions but suddenly she walks over towards the ladies’ toilet and she doesn’t come back. The detective looks up and see a man walking across the dance floor. It is one of the men were in disappeared woman´s appartment and they had hit him. He runs off the dance floor and comes to his car. Just then, he feels a terrible pain in his head. Next day he is at the police station again because the day before a police car finds him in the middle of the road. Sergeant is interested in the club. It is owned by criminals. But they can’t prove it. The detective tells him all he knows. Sergeant telephones New York where the disappeared woman´s sister lives and the police tells them that this person doesn’t exist. The detective meets her. He says her that she is the woman who had disappeared. She recognizes it. One night at The Cabanas she sees one of the men who hit the detective. He opens a bag full of diamonds and jewellery. They use the club to buy and sell stolen things. The woman and her boyfriend steal the bag and the criminal realizes it. Then, she comes to see the detective so she is safe. She doesn’t want to tell him the truth about the jewels and for this reason, her boyfriendhas died. Finally, the criminals are arrested.
The protagonists are Lenny Samuel (the private eye) and Helen Garfield (the woman who looks for her sister). The other characters are the porter of the Manson Building where the girl disappeared lives, Mr Myer who is the boss of the woman, Suzy Graham who is her colleague, Benny Greep who is the man that she meets, the cleaner of The Cabanas Club, Jo and a tall friend of his who hit Lenny on the head and Sergeant Murphy who believes Lenny Samuel killed Benny.
I like the story because it is amusing. However, it is predictable too because right from the beginning I imagine the twins are the same person since their names are very similar: Helen and Elaine. The best part of the book is in the end when it is discovered what the criminals did at the club. The story made feel and it incited me to go on reading. I recommend it you because it is interesting. I would read other books by this author if they were something of the sort.
It is important to mention that you always have to tell the truth because in the story the detective is almost killed because the woman didn’t tell himeverything.
INMA SAEZ ALVAREZ NI2