Hollywood private eye David Ross is hired to find out if a young woman is embezzling company funds. He finds more trouble than evidence; he’s almost strangled by the girl’s boy friend and when she is murdered, Ross – who served six years on a murder rap – becomes the chief suspect
Ross is hired to expose a cardshark who's fleecing members of an exclusive social club. Ross infiltrates the club by posing as a gambler and prospective member. The subterfuge enables Ross to check out Richard Chase and his girlfriend, Ellie. But a chance meeting with Anne proved the stakes are higher than Ross thought.
A routine missing persons case gets Ross embroiled in a million-dollar con game and murder. Ross is hired to investigate the strange disappearance of an attractive model and uncovers evidence of murder. One of the model's boyfriends, Kurt Anderson, an executive with a local research foundation, is a prime suspect. Tracing Anderson to the rural site of a research group, Ross enlists the help of Daisy, a guide for the organization. Daisy takes Ross on a tour, which proves not only enlightening, but nearly fatal.
Plain-looking Helen Brunner hires Ross to retrieve $6,000. She foolishly lent it to a younger man who promised to marry her, then he got himself murdered. The search involves Ross with a lonely-hearts club, a tough detective, an assortment of gangsters - and the killer.
Ross searches for Billy Joe Corey, a car thief who jumped bail, this leads to the boy's hometown, where folks - including the local sheriff - don't take kindly to the investigator's presence. Residents there still consider the boy something of a hero.
Ross is enshrouded in an Oriental mystery and murder. Hired to deliver a dead man's ashes to San Francisco, Ross soon finds himself being tracked by killers for reasons he can't fathom. He is stunned to learn the urn containing the ashes is priceless.
Hired to locate a missing witness in a murder trial, Ross does just that, but regrets it. Working for a defense attorney, Ross tracks down a fleeing witness, Murphy, and by so doing, unwittingly the man's murder by Starns, a thug posing as a friend of Ross' client. Ross is desperate to get his new evidence to the courtroom where the trial is underway, but first must elude two men who are out to silence him. Wounded in the chase, Ross solicits the aid of two runaway hippies.
Ross undertakes a job for self-made millionaire Lyman Barr. Hired to find Barr's missing girlfriend, Ross finds the young lady hiding out. Not only does she not want to be found, Ross finds himself constantly under attack.
While investigating the death of a pretty girl's boyfriend, Ross detects a monumental insurance fraud and goes after bigger game. Ross returns from Mexico to break the news to his client that alleged accident victim Todd Elkins is alive and apparently staged a $200,000 insurance coup. Seeing a chance to make some big money himself, Ross offers insurance company executive Daniel W. Border to return the culprit and the money in exchange for a percentage of the total amount.
The death of one-time dancing star Leroy Rollins from an overdose of alcohol and tranquilizers prompts a suspicious casting department to employ David Ross for an investigation. The strange behavior of Rollin's landlady, the cold indifference of his former girlfriend and attempted bribery by a producer have Ross wondering whether or not Rollins was murdered.
David Ross involves himself in a final-hour bid to save a hoodlum from the gas chamber. Despite the objections of a police lieutenant and a strong case against the convicted man, Ross decided to move on new evidence which hints of a frame-up. The trail leads to a known gambler and a former associate of the condemned man.
The news that a former burlesque queen intends to ""tell all"" in her memoirs has a lot of highly placed people on edge. Ross must find out which one might be nervous enough to kill her.
Ross makes with the sun-and-sand set as he tries to locate a witness to a hit-and-run killing, then finds he's falling for a girl who holds the key to the case. Diane finds herself involved in a hush-up, but her evidence proves worthless when thugs move in.
Twelve years ago, industrialist George Harrington paid a $250,000 ransom for his kidnapped daughter, who was never seen again. Now, Sadie Burch claims the girl she raised as her own is the millionaire's missing daughter.
Mary Smith, plain-spoken and naive, enlists Ross' help to trackdown her missing brother. The detective soon learns that Smith is involved with some very unsavory types, who don't take kindly to people asking questions.
Ross hits a wall of resentment and hostility as he searches for Mareno Bay's least-loved citizen. Novelist John Bedford disappeared shortly after returning to the area, and the residents are unanimous in wishing him dead.
Ross is having a series of flashbacks to when he was in prison and how his life was saved during a savage fight, by another convict, played by Aldo Ray. When his prison-buddy is released, he contacts Ross, to tell him of a big, money-making plot he has devised, which is actually extortion. Ross declines, but his buddy insists.
In Acapulco, Mexico, Ross mixes in with the jet set as he tries to convince a millionaire's runaway daughter that her newfound playmates are up to no good. Ross finally locates the girl in the company of a self-styled archaeologist Fred Rhodes. When Ross begins to check Rhodes out, he's arrested by Mexican police as the suspect in a jewelry theft.
While investigating the shooting of a convict in a backwater town, Ross is arrested on the charge of selling marijuana.
Carrie Snodgrass plays a difficult double role. The psychological drama involves Ross with a plain sister who hires him to find her missing sister, a glamorous model involved in an underworld ring dealing in narcotics, and gets involved in an extortion racket.
Ross poses as a drifter with the alias Leo Martin, he joins a gang of hijacking truckers, whose operation is hurting an insurance company.
Ross is hired by a diamond-in-the-rough millionaire who is slain before the detective has any idea why he was hired. His investigation leads him to an elegant tennis club, which considered the millionaire too ""low crust"" for membership.
Ross takes on a tough, unbending cop who's facing indictment on a bribery charge. Probing a possible frame, Ross begins to sort out the man's many enemies - ranging from a bartender to a high city official
Ross is alternately beguiled and bedeviled by April Endby, a winsome widow who has buried two husbands. Ross can't help wondering if she did them in? Her current husband wonders the same thing and hires Ross to investigate. Director Richard Benedict appears as a photographer.
Ross is hired to tail a paroled convict, who supposedly is the only person who knows the hiding place of $250,000. Kooks and heavies crowd Ross as he searches a crumbling section of Los Angeles. Jayne Meadows appears as Lil in a cameo performance.
Ross is hired to serve a subpoena on a well-guarded millionaire who has never been photographed. Ross uncovers a curious love affair - and a murder plot. William Windom guest-stars here as a wealthy businessman whose expansions are threatening other businesses. When one of the latter gets a court order against him, Ross is hired to serve the papers, which proves to be a touchy task, since the man lives like a recluse.