abstract
| - A gang war is tearing Gotham City apart leaving innocent civilians and rival gangsters dead in its wake. The Governor appoints a special prosecutor, William Kendrick, because the corrupt D.A. Graves has done nothing. Gotham’s wealthy citizens pledge their support to Kendrick as threats from gang leaders are made through the press. Soon the lower level, petty criminals are behind bars and Kendrick targets the bigger fish and threatens to imprison them all with the information he has collected in his “little black book.” Wanting Kendrick dead, gang leaders hatch plans to eliminate Kendrick. Batman suspects as much with the target Kendrick has painted on himself with the “little black book,” so he ventures out to watch Kendrick and make sure no foul play befalls him. Batman’s efforts are for naught as he arrives at Kendrick’s lodgings at night to find that Bannon, a local politician, Graves, a local gangster, and his men have already committed the murder. A brief fight breaks out, but Batman is knocked out and the murderers flee. Investigating the scene, Batman discovers that Taylor, a member of the citizens support group, survived the attempt on his own life. Perhaps Taylor can shed some light on the responsible parties of Kendrick’s murder. Before dying, Kendrick mutters a clue to Batman regarding his “little black book.” Before investigating the rash of clues, Batman takes Taylor to the home of Linda Page, former socialite now nurse. She tends to Taylor’s wounds, but when he regains consciousness he cannot provide any information on the shooter/s, because his injury has caused amnesia. Meanwhile the crooks responsible for Kendrick’s murder are trying to decipher Kendrick’s final words overheard when spoken to the Batman. Batman and the criminals race to Kendrick’s suburb home in hopes of finding the “little black book” there based on the clues Kendrick’s last words provided. Batman, Robin, Linda and Taylor arrive first and find the “little black book” hidden behind a painting found using the clue given by the dying Kendrick. Bannon and Graves and his men arrive soon after, so Batman hides Linda and Taylor while he and Robin work to fight the gangsters off. Eventually the thugs are tied up and Taylor’s memory returns. Taylor confesses that he killed Kendrick before Bannon’s men shot him. After a short struggle, Taylor is knocked through a banister falling to his death. Graves explains that Bannon provided political protection and Taylor was, in reality, the leader of the rival gang and killed Kendrick to prevent that from being revealed. Graves’s men attempted to kill him, because he might have revealed information about their gang if he was captured for Kendrick’s murder.
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