John 'Rastus' Murray

Summaries Shorty's wife throws him out of the house for lying around reading detective thrillers and letting his boss Pigmeat get away with not paying him for the work he does at Pigmeat's barber shop in Harlem. He runs into Pigmeat on the street and asks for the money he's owed, but Pigmeat winds up convincing him that not only does he not owe Shorty any salary, but he actually overpays Shorty $1.25 a week. Later, Shorty reads about a jewel thief on the loose in Harlem and that there's a reward of $1,000 for his capture. He convinces Pigmeat that the two of them can catch this guy, collect the reward and then become famous detectives. Complications ensue.

Pigmeat and Shorty, who own "Pigmeat and Shorty's Bootery", are told by their landlord to either pay up or get out. They get caught trying to short-count him, and he threatens to have them arrested. After a series of disasters--they ruin a customer's suit, their store blows up--they get a telegram notifying them that a man they once did a kindness for has left them quite a bit of money and a house, but in order to get the inheritance, they have to spend a night in the bedroom of the man's house. When they arrive there, they notice two things--the place is kind of creepy and a series of spooky incidents leaves them to believe the house is haunted.