Nora Blackbirdβpregnant at last!βis spending summer afternoons wallowing in the Bucks County pool of her best friend, Lexie Paine, who has just been released from prison. At night, Nora is covering Philadelphiaβs high-society events for the local newspaper. And this time she doesnβt have to look far for a good story.
Next door, a Broadway show is in rehearsal at the estate of Toodles Tuttle, the long-deceased but ever-legendary composer. Reigning over the estate is Toodlesβs diva widow, Boom Boom. The demanding old broad still rules with an iron fist, and considering the chorus line of enemies sheβs racked up over the years, her death has been a hotly anticipated event. So imagine everyoneβs dismay when itβs her beloved daughter, Jenny, who drops deadβfrom a cause that is anything but naturalβjust as the lights are set to go on for the lucrative new Toodles musical.
Yet murder is only an overture to the drama to come....
Noraβs sister Libby, a soon-to-be-grandmother, has gotten herself into a sticky situation, wooed by both a lowly bug exterminator and a cheesecake-loving Broadway impresario. Edgy sister Emma has a dangerous new boyfriend who may jeopardize her show-jumping exploits. And the love of Noraβs life, Mick Abruzzo, has been desperate to prevent Nora from meeting the most notorious member of his mobbed-up familyβhis mother.
Now Nora has to deal with the bump-and-grind of her personal life, and also bring the curtain down on a daring killerβbefore he forces her to exit stage left, permanently.
© 2003-2026