This is the story of an American Bluebeard whose crimes at the turn of the twentieth century affected over fifty women. The story reveals the plight of his victims and the fate of the fiend that cruelly annihilated them.

He ran lonely hearts ads in local newspapers. He married as many as 50 women altogether, and after extracting their money, killed at least 22, and abandoned many more. He got away with it for twenty years until one suspicious wife brought him down.

Callie Cooper’s first important job as a P.I. has her traveling to Newport, Oregon, where her grandmother’s cousin has been arrested for murdering her husband. Callie’s uncle Rudy has been grooming her in the business; but since he is unavailable to help, he’s letting her use his old beach cabin while she works the case.

Last year, Gary, the boy next door, professed his love for her; and she’s still trying to sort out her feelings for him. And now he’s accompanying her to Newport.

The same charming characters who beguiled readers in Fiddelee-dee and Company return with flair and gusto. Their goal: a bandstand for the park of Elvira. Their challenge: raising funds and dealing with the clashing egos of Elvira’s mayor and Elvira’s newest resident, an Irish oboe-playing whiskey merchant. Music is the counterpoint to a quiet pandemonium as the community learns how to come together.