Graybourne St. Charles, the exalted Chairman of the prestigious Chicago law firm Fenton, Pettigrew & Cohenstein is waiting for the private firm elevator. It comes. The door opens. He finds the dead body of one of the firm's most prominent clients, Jeffrey Alden. No one else. The client's throat is cut and there is blood all over. All that can be found out is that the client was last seen by his socially prominent and gorgeous lawyer, Gloria Spiegel, his investment banker, Dewey Feingold, and Sean Featherbottom, a poofy young lawyer, all of whom saw him get on the elevator a few floors above. Bumper Lohman, the big nobody Managing Partner, is told to handle the problem, but not until the Vice Chairman, Zenon Cohenstein, has extracted all the good PR he can get out of it.

Find out who did it and how as you slide through the muck of Chicago and its inhabitants who are there because they are not good enough to get into Hell and learn why Chicago is the one place where terrorists are afraid to go.

The victim inherited a large company and turned it into a vast empire. It started in construction and real estate and multiplied from there into numerous businesses including casinos and foreign banks and trust companies. He was always involved in one deal after another with Feingold and Spiegel. The day of this death he was in the firm offices on the 43rd floor to close on buying a fast food franchisor, Yummy Um Do. He was leaving and Feingold and Spiegel accompanied him to the elevators. He was put on the elevator alone to go down, the button was pushed, the door closed and then Spiegel and Feingold went to the washrooms and after that back to the conference room where they had been earlier. Moments after Alden got on, the elevator arrived on 40 and when the door opened St. Charles found the dead body. The receptionists on 41 and 42 say no one entered the elevators on those floors.

Was it suicide? Did the Shadow do it? It's complicated.

- Bumper Lohman. Managing Partner of Fenton, Pettigrew & Cohenstein, the prominent and prestigious large Chicago law firm. A nobody. But someone has to do the work and after all is said and done he tells us who did it.

- Graybourne St. Charles. The magnificent, snobby, old-line waspy, anti-Semitic and socially prominent Chairman of the firm. An idiot who considers himself above everything, which includes the law. Good thing other lawyers work there.

- Zenon Cohenstein. Vice Chairman of the firm. He could sell candles in Hell which is a good thing because the firm was going down the tubes until he came around.

- Jeffrey Alden. Heir to a large company which he built into a vast and complicated empire. It turns out he is cheating people and enabling them to cheat others. But it also turns out that someone is cheating him. Found dead one morning in the firm's private elevator.

- Gloria Spiegel. A young, gorgeous lawyer on the way up fast. She has the Alden business and the attentions of Jeffrey. Glorious Gloria.

- John Sweeney. Young associate who is already bringing in big bucks from entertainment and show biz clients. Spontaneous Oh Wower.

- Dewey Feingold. A successful investment banker who does deals with Alden. He complains about being asked to secure financing for Ronald Hump attacks on politicians at a time when Hump and Flinton are getting ready to run for nominations for the Presidency.

- Sean Featherbottom. A young gay associate lawyer in the firm. He, Spiegel and Feingold were supposedly the last people to see Alden alive when he got on the elevator. Featherbottom has the stone from Alden's fancy lapel pin and was seen washing a red liquid off his hands in the men's room.

- Tambola Cook. Young associate. Five foot four inches tall and 180 pounds. She wears a cloak and a pointed hat and zooms along on her left. Everyone calls her Miss Leftwitch. Is she alibing herself or someone else?

- Loti Kahn. Associate in the office next to Tambola Cook who hears what is going on next door.

- Detective Smokey Bongwad. He and his partner investigate and determine who did it. They break up the big Halloween party to get the culprit.

- Other clowns too numerous to mention.