Rick Barron, a sharp, capable detective on the Beverly Hills force, finds himself demoted after a run-in with a superior officer, but he soon lands a job other cops only dream about: the security detail for Centrion Pictures, one of the hottest studios in the midst of Hollywood�s golden age of the late 1930s. As the protector of the studio�s interests, Barron looks after the elite of filmdom�s stars - among them Clete Barrow, a British leading man with a penchant for parties, and Glenna Gleason, a peach of a talent on the verge of superstardom. Rick�s easy charm has society columnists dubbing him �the Prince of Beverly Hills,� the white knight of movie stars, until he stumbles across a murder cover-up and a blackmail scam that threaten the studio�s business and may have origins with some unsavory characters. When two suspicious deaths begin to look like a double murder, and an attempt is made on someone who has become an intimate friend, Barron knows he is up against wise guys whose stakes are nothing less than do-or-die. A dicey war of nerves is on.