A gritty, graphic pulp fiction about the temptation, damnation and redemption of Frank Grissel, an aging, hard-knuckled private eye--and a deeply closeted homosexual, set in the very real world of 1953 San Francisco. Aided by his long-suffering secretary (and sometime live-in lover) Loretta, Grissel's search for a runaway girl winds up with him becoming a suspect in a string of gruesome murders. The case takes twists and turns through the Golden Gate's greasy underbelly: the beguiling arms of Chinese shipping heiress (and smuggler) Lady Tze; an unexpected reunion with Betty Grey, the daughter he abandoned long ago; the loss of Loretta to the sadistic clutches of the high-powered "Colonel;" and finally the horrifying gender-bending truth about the runaway and the murders and all those missing organs.
