Mildred Pierced

Toby tries to clear a dentist accused of a medieval murder.

Though an otherwise unremarkable woman, Mildred Minck has the distinction of being the first citizen of Los Angeles to be murdered by crossbow. The police find her dentist husband, Sheldon, standing over the body with the weapon, swearing that only Joan Crawford can identify the real killer. An insanity defense seems a natural fit, but Sheldon wants his neighbor, private investigator Toby Peters, to prove his innocence. The dentist is telling the truth about one thing: Joan Crawford was there. The silver screen beauty is in the middle of a comeback, and begs Toby to keep her name out of it. She points Toby towards the Survivors of the Future, a merry band of crackpot survivalists that the dentist was hoping to join. Sheldon's new friends want him sprung, but only because they want him dead.