Gregory Hood is a San Francisco antiquities importer, always on the lookout for priceless and unusual items. However, he is, along with his friend and attorney, Sanderson “Sandy” Taylor, a part-time sleuth. The valuable relics that they manage to acquire more often than not have interesting stories attached to them, stories which are in some way related to a present-day crime. As with many amateur investigators, Hood is intensely disliked by the law, seen only as an annoyance. This is, however, only because he is capable of solving the mysteries which totally baffle the police.