The Sampson family made their money in the Texas oil fields and spent it on the California coast. There was plenty of it left when Ralph Sampson disappeared ... Mrs. Sampson, a paralytic blonde who had bad dreams, called Archer in to find him and his checkbook. The trail that Archer followed took him down through the seven circles of California society. Sampson had mixed with thieves and murderers, a cult of phony sun-worshippers, a silent-movie star in the last stages of degradation, a boogie pianist who had served her time. In company like that you look for trouble, and Archer found plenty of trouble ...