Nathalea Bonnette

Private investigator Kinsey Millhone is back, sassy and self-reliant as ever. Visiting a small town in the Sierras, Kinsey aids a recent widow, Selma Newquist, who believes that her detective husband did not die of a heart attack, as reported, but from foul play. Kinsey sifts through the paper trail Tom Newquist left behind, trying to discover what he was investigating before he died.

Thirty-four years ago, Violet Sullivan put on her party finery and left for the annual Fourth of July fireworks display. She was never seen again. In the small California town of Serena Station, tongues wagged. Some said she'd run off with a lover. Some said she was murdered by her husband.

The good people of Moose County are in a fever of excitement. Not only is the gala groundbreaking for the new Pickax bookstore about to take place, but the town of Brrr is preparing to celebrate its bicentennial, and columnist James Qwilleran has been roped in to help with the festivities.