Death Smells of Cordite

Russ Farran has a plush mansion and millions stashed away in the bank, all garnered from his 1950s Los Angeles aeronautics empire. But that empire is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, due to a series of persistent labor strikes that seem to be provoked by agitators. Then he encounters an old friend, a private investigator, lying next to his desk with a neat, blue-rimmed hole in his head. The cops and the feds both think that Farran did it. The industrialist finds that that his millions won't help him, and he's forced into hiding. Only his sister and his murdered friend's beautiful widow still have faith in his pleas of innocence. But before he can help anyone else, he first has to help himself by identifying just who his real enemy is--the ruthless, scheming mastermind who's systematically framed him, and who wants to take over his business... A great period suspense thriller!