Toby Peters gets caught between a pair of Peter Lorres
Hollywood detective Toby Peters is asleep on his floor when the trouble starts. The dentist who shares his office calls, wailing that his wife has left him. Toby is shocked that a woman as unpleasant as Mildred could attract a suitor. Even more surprising is the name of the alleged Lothario: Peter Lorre, the scaly-voiced, bug-eyed Hollywood villain. Though he can’t imagine why the dentist would want her back, Toby agrees to track down his missing wife.

He finds Lorre in a greasy spoon near the Warner Brothers’ lot, but the actor doesn’t know a thing about missing Mildred. Her boyfriend turns out to be a Peter Lorre impersonator, and by the time Toby finds him, he’s doing a passable imitation of a dead man. The bullet was meant for the real Lorre, who has just become Toby’s client—whether he likes it or not.