A solid archetypal "thriller" from one of the originators of the genre. A little too talkie though, with not quite enough action. Interesting premise, of a mystery author who accidentally meets up with a detective who shows him a body of a well known criminal (Dimitrios). He becomes swept up in the quest to find more info on this "master criminal" and soon things get out of hand.

Written in the 30s, it is a reminder of just how long this ridiculous War on Drugs has been fought and how many trillions of dollars and thousands of lives lost. Could it really have been that much worse to have it legal, taxed and regulated? I think not, personally.