Mary the heroine of the book is presented with a conundrum (that''s a word indicating a puzzle). Her father and friends
of his, all Dean Martin fans, wish to sue a lady from a rival fan club, one devoted to Frank Sinatra. She must solve this problem but, in the meantime, is faced with a far greater one.
Trish Gambone, the leader of a team of Mean
Girls -- girls who behaved objectionably toward Mary in high school--is in the office, seeking Mary''s help. Trish has a
boyfriend who knocks her around and she wants to get out of the relationship. She needs Mary to help her - but spurns Mary''s suggestions. Not only that, when Trish identifies the abuser, Mary recognises him as someone with whom she had had a brief fling in high school. But then both Trish and her boyfriend disappear and, shortly after, the drug dealing boyfriend''s corpse is discovered. But where is Trish and is she still alive?
Mary, of course, feels it is incumbent upon her to investigate but she fails to take into account the effect the Mean Girls would have on her detective friend, so that she is shut out of the official investigation.
Mary puts herself in harm''s way on every possible occasion. Mind, there is always the possibility that her love life might take a turn for the better, but she needs to stay in the land of the living in order to enjoy any up-turn!
Mary certainly faces difficulties in her job during this adventure.