He's dead. It says so in his own newspaper: "Douglas Brodie - Born January 25, 1912, Died July 20, 1947." Is this really the end of the hardboiled ex-cop? The third installment of the Douglas Brodie mystery series.

A brief editorial describes the tragic death of their chief crime reporter Douglas Brodie and staunchly defends him against the unproven charge of murder. It's a brave stance to take, given the weight of evidence. The death is confirmed in the tear-streaked faces of the women by the freshly dug grave. It is spelled out in chiseled letters on the headstone, glistening oil-black in the drizzle. Just four weeks before, a senior banker was kidnapped. His distraught wife pleaded with Brodie to deliver the ransom money and free her husband. The drop went disastrously wrong. Brodie was attacked in the kidnappers' den. He woke with a gun in his hand next to a very dead banker with a bullet in his head. The police, led by Brodie's old foe Sangster, burst in and arrest Brodie. The case is watertight: the bullet comes from Brodie's revolver, the banker's wife denies knowing Brodie, and Brodie's pockets are stuffed with ransom notes. Samantha Campbell deploys all her advocacy skills to no avail. It looks like her lover is for the long drop. But in an apparent act of desperation—or guilt—Brodie cheats justice by committing suicide in his prison cell. Is this the sordid end for a distinguished ex-copper, decorated soldier, and man of parts?