"Return to 1930s Burning Cove, California, the glamorous seaside playground for Hollywood stars, mobsters, spies, and a host of others who find more than they bargain for in this mysterious town. Maggie Lodge, assistant to the reclusive advice columnist known only as Dear Aunt Cornelia to her readers, hires down-but-not-quite-out private eye Sam Sage to help track down the person who is blackmailing her employer. Maggie and Sam are a mismatched pair....

When Clifford Hickey and his adopted brother Alvaro reunite to play at an Evergreen, Oregon folk festival, a local boy is murdered and Alvaro is accused of the crime, forcing Clifford to examine who may have wanted the boy dead.