Flute — Edward Cline

In this 40th Cyrus Skeen novel, set in late April 1930, the detective, fresh from a case in Chicago, looks into the troubles of a black comedian at the Happy Time nightclub in China Basin, owned by Morris Avinatti, and Italian with connections to the Ku Klux Klan. Klansmen almost murder Godfrey Flake, Flute's comedy partner. Skeen suspects that Avinatti wants to break the contract with Flute and Flake. Skeen now tangles with the KKK.