Frank Lydecker is a Chicago police detective turned private investigator in the tough guy tradition tempered by a rigid loyalty to friendship and a penchant for diners, old buildings and streetcars. Here are five stories from Lydecker's casebook in the transitional world of the 1950s. Who is recruiting young men to die in a string of bank robberies? What happened to a phonograph record purported to be a voice recording of Mark Twain? The motive for stealing an antique wardrobe is extortion or insurance fraud. Or is it? Why has a rare 1849 gold coin not been seen in decades? Did Rhonda Shaw execute her father to avenge her mother's death or is there another more complex reason?