When the cops catch mystery writer Tracy Eaton's mom, Hollywood legend Martha Collins, alone with the bloody remains of celebrity litigant Vince Sperry — holding nothing but a lame excuse — Tracy leaps to her mother's defense, despite her own publication woes.

Only Martha seems determined to impede Tracy's attempts to clear her. That just convinces Tracy her mom has pulled a doozy this time, even if Tracy can't see how anything Martha does relates to Sperry's murder.

Not that other suspects don't abound — but those scare Tracy even more. Was Martha right, had Tracy's stuffy lawyer husband, Drew, settled his career-making lawsuit with a bullet? Or did her dad, aging Hollywood heartthrob Alec Grainger, decide to end an old feud once and for all?

All roads seem to lead to the past, to one Hollywood scandal after another. Will Tracy's digging clear Martha's past and free her future? Or will she unearth something that's sure to slam the cell door shut on her exasperating, but much-loved mother?

Genre: Mystery