The Magician

Someone attempts to take the life of writer Max Pomeroy, Tony Blake's friend. Upon investigation, Tony discovers an illegal gambling operation that Max is about to testify against before a grand jury. Tony gains the friendship of a disgruntled casino operative named Diane Thompson, and uses it to penetrate the casino's veil of secrecy. Using his card and dice handling skills, Tony is able to clean up on the house, but he soon finds his own life is in danger. His investigation culminates in a wild ride on the top of a hijacked ambulance.

Magician Tony Blake discovers that Julie Carter, the singer who opens his stage illusion show in Las Vegas, has been kidnapped. Against her fiance's wishes, Tony gets involved in trying to rescue the girl, but his helicopter surveillance plan fails. Tony now finds time running out to locate and rescue Julie before the kidnappers kill her.

Tony's girlfriend is apparently run down in a parking garage, but nobody will give him a straight answer as to which hospital the body was taken. When a mysterious uncle suddenly claims the body, Tony suspects something is awry. The investigation spells D-A-N-G-E-R when somebody tries to kill Tony by knocking him out and setting fire to the barn he's in.

When Tony makes his assistant vanish in a flash of fire during a charity performance at a mental hospital, one of the spectators (Star Wars' Mark Hamill) becomes hysterical. Tony learns that the boy was a witness to something horrible in a nearby small town. After traveling to the town, Tony discovers that the entire town is keeping a dark secret, and will do anything to keep it that way. Despite the aid of a sympathetic but intimidated town sheriff and his daughter, Tony finds that uncovering the secret the town is hiding is anything but easy.

After rehearsing for a benefit performance at the Los Angeles County Fair, Tony Blake spots a man being pummeled by two assailants. After rescueing him in his Corvette, Tony discovers that the victim, Albie Allikolos, is a horse breeder whose horse was recently crippled by an unknown attacker. Attending an outdoor party thrown by Albie that evening, Tony sees Albie shoot a creditor after a heated argument. Tony suspects a frame up, and, in attempting to vindicate Albie, uncovers an elaborate criminal horse racing scheme and finds his own life endangered.

A woman who begins laughing hysterically when her boyfriend Paul proposes to her falls down a staircase after he shakes her. Matt Matthews, a supposed friend, photographs Paul as he carries the body outside and convinces him that the police will never believe his version of what happened and that he should put the body into a trunk and dump it in the lake. Matthews then immediately proceeds to blackmail Paul. Tony Blake is involved when Paul's son, Danny, finds out what happens and attempts to help his father, only to be captured by the villains. Blake's investigation leads him to a rendezvous at an ornate, Gothic style inn where he must find his informant and outwit the blackmailers.