From Headquarters

A detailed early look at the inner workings of a (then) modern police department. The emphasis is on fingerprint detection, hair samples, chemical labs, booking procedures, and radio rooms. The plot that's threaded through all this concerns detective Brent as he pursues a murderer who has killed a blackmailer. Burgess' stereotype of a cocaine addict in an era when the drug was low in price and used primarily by those who were low in class, is interesting in view of cocaine's later status as Hollywood's hippest high-ticket habit.