Tired of living with Marvin, her unloving and mean-spirited husband, Emma O'Hallahan shoots him in the back of his head and buries him in the garden of their California suburban home. From then on her daily routine is thrown into turmoil as she abandons the strictures of her old life. Living on TV dinners, candy bars, and brandy, Emma meets a potential new suitor at the supermarket. But a nosy neighbor, a persistent cop, a letter from her estranged daughter (who cultivates inner awareness at the Indian Sisters Healing Center), and the hungry ghost of Marvin himself combine to drive her to another act of rebellion...and another, all recorded in her private journal. An engagingly skewed vision of America, Scott Bradfield's second novel explores a land of serial killers, mail-order cults, gun nuts, recovery groups, syndrome victims, dysfunctional families, and happy consumers.