Pary receives a piece of mail that shakes her already unstable world. Until she can solve the problem, she decides to run away from home because she doesn't want anyone to find her. And who better to hide her than John Smith's ex-father-in-law, Vinnie?
Vinnie stashes Pary at a high-end hotel where Pary soon begins to feel she's not so crazy after all. But she still has a dilemma to handle. A dilemma that will cost her money, so she takes a PI job to pay for her sins.
Jewelry store owner, Bernice Bloom, is convinced her husband, Bertram, is cheating on her and she wants Pary to catch him and his latest flame. His latest flame is the fascinating, and somehow horrifying Peony Purse, one of the cities wealthiest women. As Pary tries to catch a cheating Bertie, she gets more than she bargained for because affairs aren't always what they seem. And this one is not what Pary expects when it lands her in her least favorite place.
Meanwhile, her neighbor, John Smith, is reluctantly concerned about her. After all, whatever was in that letter made her cry... and then run away from home. She didn't even argue when he took away her sleeping pills. She just disappeared. Against his better judgment, John tries to help and in the end he gets more than he bargained for, as well. But that's life when your neighbor is Parody Hope Barry!