Sometime-sleuth Jaine Austen struggles to make endsβand zippersβmeet while living on a freelance writerβs salary in Los Angeles. When sheβs not hunting down the latest flavor of her favorite ice cream, sheβs tracking down criminals on her own Walk of Infamy...
On the front lines of the battle of the bulge, otherwise known as trying on bathing suits in the communal dressing room at Loehmannβs, Jaine makes a new friendβa wanna-be actress named Pamβand gets a new job: sprucing up Pamβs bare-bones resume. Their feeling of connection is mutual, so Pam invites Jaine to join The PMS Clubβa womenβs support group that meets once a week over guacamole and margaritas to commiserate about love and life.
But joining the club proves to be more a curse than a blessing for Jaine. Though she is warned that Rochelle, the hostess, makes a guacamole to die for, Jaine never takes the warning literally. Until another PMS memberβMarybeth, a relentlessly perky interior decoratorβdrops dead over a mouthful of the green stuff after confessing she is having an affair with Rochelleβs husband. Turns out that someone knew about Marybethβs nut allergy and added a fatal dose of peanut oil to the dip.
While Rochelle and her husband are the obvious suspects, everyone at that nightβs meeting is under suspicion, including Jaine, putting a new job opportunity at a conservative downtown bank in jeopardy. So, instead of dishing dirt with The PMS Club, Jaine has to dig up dirt on the surviving membersβan alcoholic widow, a sassy sixty- something, a too-fabulous honorary male PMS-er, and Pam. As Jaine delves deeper, she tunes into some truly sinister vibes, and it soon becomes clear: someone in this club thinks getting away with murder should be a privilege of membership...
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