Ex-cop Winnie Farlowe has been retired from police work due to a back injury, and has been fighting the bottle instead of bad guys ever since. But suddenly he meets Tess Binder, a stunning, three-time divorcée from the Balboa Bay Club where wallets are fat, bikinis are skimpy, and cosmetic surgery is one sure way to a billionaire's bank account. She believes her father's suicide was actually a murder and wants Winnie to help her prove it. Death and chicanery flourish amidst ranches, mansions, and yachting parties. Publishers Weekly called it "comic and deeply moving . . .  a stupendous climax . . . virtually sure to be hailed as Wambaugh's best." And the San Diego Union-Tribune said, "a profoundly serious work and in reading it I laughed my head off."