The Bandaged Nude by Robert Finnegan

Paperback. Condition: Good-. 1950. Signet. 

Reporter Dan Banion hadn't seen the painting, a particularly appetizing nude. But he had seen the artist, alive - twenty-four hours before teh young man's body, officially unidentified, turned up at the morgue. This was a big-headstart for a bloodhound like banion, and he was hot on the trail before the cops got out from behind their desks.

There wasn't much to go on - a strange green tint on the dead man's lips, a mysteriously sudden demand for his paintings. Then a procession of women stepped on the scene, the victim's current mistress, his man-hungry ex-wife, and finally a tough blonde who got paid for slightly illegal services. Each one led Banion closer to the killer, and the climax comes with a shock that will surprise every reader, as it did Dan Banion's hottest competitos, the San Francisco police.