Tom Burton

Suave amateur detective Tom Lawrence--aka Michael Arlen's literary hero The Falcon--arrives in Hollywood for some rest and relaxation, only to find himself involved in the murder of a movie actor. There's no shortage of suspects: the costume designer to whom he was married, a tyrannical director, a beautiful young French starlet, a Shakespeare-quoting producer, even a New York gangster. Helping The Falcon solve the crime is a cute, wise-cracking cab driver and a pair of bumbling cops.

Captain Stone's newly recruited officer, Tom Merriam, idolizes his senior who treats him like a friend. But when a couple of his crew members die mysteriously, Tom starts doubting Stone's authority.

Raised by Natalie Brennan, a flamboyant and irresponsible mother, Ziggy Brennan gets involved in hustling men at a young age. She hangs around with a wild crowd and learns gets her "street smarts" first from her mother, who wants everyone to think they are sisters, and then from Denny Reagan, an older man. He starts teaching her his tricks of the trade and she falls right in line with his crooked ways. Then one night she meets Martin J. 'Mart' Neilson, a tall, handsome, honest farmer boy who's a sailor and they fall in love. While he's away fighting the war, she discovers she's pregnant.

After suffering a head injury during the London Blitz, theatre actor John Loder comes to believe himself to be the Brighton Strangler, the murderer he was playing onstage.

The teens of a defense-plant town hop on the road to juvenile delinquency while their parents are busy with the war.