Like any good old-fashioned scary tale, this 2006 Golden Crown Literary Society award finalist starts out with an old time curse placed on the main character by a witch. With that, Alex Peres, Private Eye, is determined to stay uninvolved when a Provincetown houseboy is found murdered.

This is the second Alex Peres mystery and her beloved dog and sometimes sidekick, Fargo, is back. Fargo is described as “a large black Labrador retriever with a heart the size of New Jersey, a beautiful deep bell of a bark and a talent for acting….” [page 4]. Two older gay men known as Peter and the Wolf draw Alex into the murder investigation. The men own the Green Mansions bed and breakfast and the murdered houseboy, Lewis Schley, worked for them. One of them is suspected of being the murderer.