It is a crime novel set in Chicago in 1928. Two investigators from the well-known Pinkerton agency look for a young woman from an important family of the city who disappeared without leaving any trace. Their enquiries lead them to establish connections with the underworld controlled by Al Capone. The figure of the trumpetist Louis Armstrong, who is revolutionizing  the jazz world, appears as a secondary character. The novel, whose plot is fictitious, is very well documented and it recreates the Chicago of the 1920s, under the Prohibition, its violence, racism and corruption. All these is set against the musical background of jazz and blues. It contains a brief sensual reference but is not descriptive.