Savvy young Los Angeles P.I. Regan Reilly faces an unusual challenge when she gets an urgent call from Lilac Weldon, owner -- with her two hippie brothers -- of the run-down California winery Altered States. Lilac asks Regan to find her actress daughter, Whitney, AKA "Freshness," in time to attend the wedding of Lilac's wealthy aunt Lucretia Standish, a 93-year-old silent-film star. The Weldons have learned from a secret source that each family member will receive a gift of $2 million from Lucretia -- but only if they all attend.

Lucretia's bridegroom, a 46-year-old con man and former actor, knows he must keep Whitney away; they have met before and she is wise to his game. How Regan foils his plot makes for an exciting climax to this comic suspense novel, filled with Carol Higgins Clark's inimitable characters.