Dancing in the Dark

Sometimes fools must step in where Fred Astaire fears to tap.

Luna Martin, the moll of a well-known Los Angeles gangster nicknamed "Fingers" (because he likes to cut them off), has demanded dance lessons from Hollywood's finest hoofer-and whatever Luna wants, Luna gets.

To sidestep the flirtations of the lead-footed lady, Astaire hires private investigator Toby Peters to pose as a dance instructor and take over the lessons. But when someone cuts in and cuts Luna's throat, the grieving gangster makes Peters an offer he can't refuse: Find the killer-or go from having two left feet to one foot in the grave.

Now, instead of punishing the parquet, the silver screen's most famous song-and-dance man is pounding the pavement with his new partner-a rumpled, middle-aged gumshoe who just wants to live to shuffle through another day...