illustrated by konrad kraus, danny delacroix and eddie el greco
editorial consultant: Prof. Dan Leo
is it his imagination or is there something or someone in the shadows? inside the apartment cosima collinson wonders whether it was really worth it to hire the detective fortescue to protect the upcoming exhibition by the celebrated pete palomine as fortescue heads back downtown accompanied by the restless suburbanite carol chandler who after a stimulating adventure earlier that evening, and after a fight at the apartment of her friends peter and estelle, has left her husband michael aka henry to his own devices, which have led him to the prince hal room of the venerable hotel st crispian, where he has encountered the pulp writer harold p sternhagen
who in turn has abandoned him in order to approach the celebrated chanteuse shirley de la salle
 the singer for the st crispian house band , tony winston and his winstonians, leaving michael to the company of some of the hotels long term residents, notably the former flapper miss caroline collinson and her crony lord wolverington as well as remittance man "farmer brown" and pulp science fiction writer fred flynn,
who wishes he were accompanying harold and shirley, who have just left the bar
 with the mysterious mr burgoyne and mr o'toole, whom he would never suspect of not only being aliens who have just arrived on earth but of being aliens who have been introduced to some of the planet's more esoteric pleasures by the hipsters landon "rooster" crow and alice "sniffy" smith who are doing some waiting of their own at bob's bowery bar for the "two bills" who might be having problems of their own after leaving the automat under the indifferent gazes of change attendant and aspiring novelist polly powell and crusading reporter flossie flanagan, who has not had much luck getting information from
the celebrated actress hyacinth wilde
 about her involvement with the international jewel thief stanley slade, who has just escaped from prison, and who, if flossie only knew, is hiding in room 603 of the hotel st crispian, aided and abetted now by his new friend the chambermaid cosette, and is waiting with growing impatience for his cohort jake the bellhop who is returning from an errand at a drugstore on seventh avenue, accompanied by lullaby lewinsky, whom he met at an all night diner where he stopped to introduce himself to the legendary miss gayle warning. lullaby is trying to interest jake in the story of his old army acquaintance corporal gray, who is also the subject of
the suddenly awakened memories of williams,
 the butler at the collinson residence, where young conrad collinson and frisco johnny ramirez continue their discussion
of conrad's new career as a boxer, the prospect of which
 has arisen from their altercation earlier that evening inspired by johnny's choice of words about the mysterious angie, who has disappeared after causing conrad the embarrassment of being arrested on charges of drug smuggling and white slavery and whose whereabouts are being sought by the private detectives vic vance and lou gracchus who have been hired on conrad's behalf by the lawyer will wiley all of whom would be surprised to know that angie is back in town where, after enlisting the services of cabdriver philip pirrip aka mac she has been placed in the blue suite of the hotel st crispian
by the night clerk roland
and where she has secured the tentative loyalties of olaf the doorman and chester the bellhop
before heading out to the poker game at red's west side diner
 where after finding her old friend the radical agitator ambrose behind the wheel of yet another cab, she encounters another old acquaintance the independent entrepreneur tommy sullivan, who is also curious as to the current whereabouts of stan slade, as is mister nolan, the house detective at the hotel st crispian. but stan's secret is safe with mortimer the elevator operator,
who dozes in his chair beside the elevator,
 dreaming in the endless night in the city that never sleeps
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