Funding for sports or funding for the arts? There's not enough money for both, and a ruthless battle is raging among the seven members of the Carlton school board. Sylvia Greene, the board's unbalanced president, is even threatening to expose the members' most private secrets if they don't vote her way.

But a sudden dose of poison takes care of Sylvia . . . permanently. The bad news is that Molly Master's dad, the board member who was Sylvia's first blackmail target, is now the prime suspect for her murder. Shocked and furious, Molly hits the warpath, determined to find the real killer. A deadly field trip tells her almost all she needs to know-except her own perilous fate. . . .