In the first postwar decade, Peter Cheyney holds a prominent place in the detective genre. He wrote about forty novels. His recurring characters are Lemmy Koshin, an FBI special agent handling everything he is assigned, and Kalagen, a private detective. These are people in whom professionalism replaces character and determines a way of life. Both have the same habits: love stories with gorgeous beauties, an irresistible inclination toward “Bourbon” whiskey, and an equally irresistible inclination toward brawls.