when jeweler milton devereux is murdered and his collection of diamonds is stolen, crime reporter torchy blane (glenda farrell) is assigned to the case. her police detective boyfriend steve mcbride (barton maclane) is investigating the case, but torchy tags along as he hunts for the murder weapon. she finds a gun hidden in a drainpipe in the alley behind the store. torchy also learns that milton had a confrontation with sonny croy (gordon oliver). croy is a reporter for the rival "star telegram", and the son of the newspaper's owner, constantly in trouble over gambling debts and an outstanding loan.