"Fallen Copper" is a mystery thriller based on case history files from the San Francisco Police Department. In this 1950's who-dunnit, in a city racked with scandal and corruption, Patrolman Frank Ahern becomes Chief of Police and a rookie cop takes the fall for political expediency. The mystery is built around an apparent suicide in a hotel room. The room is double-locked from the inside. A large sum of embezzled money is missing. Was there a crime? A murder?
"Fallen Copper" opens with the outbreak of WWII and the attack on Pearl Harbor. Miles Manner's military duty in Japan and his affair with the lovely Tamiko-san end with his induction into the San Francisco Police Department. The cast of characters includes Officer Miles Manner, Phyllis his former lover, a hotel general manager, a house dick, a crafty police inspector, the President of Union Oil, and a multitude of cops and robbers.