Spies and murderers on the loose in San Francisco during World War II. This third outing in the Pat and Jean Abbott series is set in the early months of World War II at a time when everyone smoked, women wore girdles, and warships could be seen steaming along past Fisherman's Wharf. Tall, lanky private detective Pat is back home in San Francisco, doing some work for the government and just hours away from marrying his sweetheart Jean Holly, when a fellow detective is murdered in his office, the only clue a yellow violet. As it happens, a beautiful Spanish entertainer, a refugee from the Spanish Civil War --- whose trademark is the yellow violet -- is in town. She's on tour accompanied by her mother, her manager, and a red dachshund named Pancho. Pat also has a new client, a lovely (and very rich) blonde whose foolish younger brother has cast his lot with Mussolini. Throw in a few Italian Fascists ("they don't fight very well, " says Pat, "but they know how to spy") and you've got enough trouble to halt anyone's nuptials. First published in 1942, it's a richly evocative portrait of one of America's favorite cities as well as of a country newly at war.
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