Dime Detective

It’s the summer of 1944, and the U.S. is at war. Times are tough for Sidney Craven, who has to supplement the sporadic income from his one-man Los Angeles detective agency by writing crime stories for pulp magazines. Then, a wounded war hero—recently home from overseas—hires Craven to locate his missing wife, an actress who disappeared on the very day she was supposed to start a new film. Craven begins his investigation by visiting her Hollywood studio. Before his snooping gets him run off the lot, a costar gives Craven a tip that eventually leads him to a jazz club in South Central L.A.…