In late summer 1946, a fortune in Nazi stolen art leaves a London port—among the treasures, the infamous Maltese Falcon… 

The Falcon—death is at the heart of it, death and the blood of its victims. Its fabulous wealth has lured greedy prey across the centuries. Chicago P.I. Joe Ganzer, a haunted former WWII espionage agent, gets trapped in this fowler's net by a mysterious Russian beauty trying to locate her uncle, a former Soviet general. Her story doesn't add up but her money does. And an old pal circling the drain needs Joe's help to get him out of a treacherous jam that may claim both their lives. Dark days are about to descend on Joe Ganzer. He will run a gauntlet of Cold War spies, Nazis, stolen booze, stolen art, and at the end of it all is the Falcon of Malta...the stuff nightmares are made of.