A noir masterpiece

With its combination of suspense, humor, intrigue and Ballinger's trademark multiple-point narrative, Portrait in Smoke is an exciting thriller about a gorgeous blonde in trouble.

Danny April owns of a small time collection agency in Chicago that specializes in finding people who don’t always want to be found. From the moment he finds in his files a photograph marked "Krassy Almauniski, winner of the Stockyard News beauty contest", he’s obsessed and ends up following an old trail that leads to nothing but trouble.