But the final kicker comes when her hairdresser goes on vacation to Fiji, leaving Ruth to look like Dickens' Miss Havisham. A crazy kaleidoscope of characters such as the uptight gallery owner, Napoleon Prinn; half-baked Dimple Dent, writer of fortune cookie wisdom; Alva Hernandez, octogenarian newspaper boy, and the amorous town caterer, Monk, add to the chaos in the shadow of Finny's nose until Ruth finds herself in the ultimate do-or-die situation.

The worm business is thriving for vermiculturist Ruth Budge. . .until a disembodied toe turns up on the golf course, and members of a strange cult begin to infiltrate the quiet seaside town of Finny, California. Life is already crazy for forty-seven year old Ruth, juggling the needs of her worm farm, her new spouse, and a platoon of crippled seabirds bequeathed to her by her dead husband. Then there’s the insanity swirling around the first-ever Finny Fog Festival and the discovery of a bizarre diary from one of the town’s seediest ancestors. Things go from misty to murderous as a man plummets to his death from an exploding hot air balloon. Is the craziness a byproduct of the festival or a decades old curse unearthed in the antique diary? Ruth had better find out fast or her worms won’t be the only things six feet under.

A TREASURE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN. . . A MURDERER ROAMING THE QUIET STREETS OF FINNY. . . It’s the 150th anniversary of the wreck of the Triton, a ship that foundered off the coast of Finny, California. A team of college students arrives to film a documentary and a pregnant Ruth is pressed into service. She must reenact the life of survivor Indigo Orson, a woman who managed the perils of gold rush California by disguising herself as a man. Indigo’s writing reveals there was treasure aboard the Triton, a treasure shrouded in secrecy. While her beloved husband Monk is away, Ruth stumbles on the body of one of the film crew. His death turns out to be the farthest thing from an accident. Adding to the chaos, Ruth’s estranged son arrives and Monk’s niece faces heartbreak at the hands of Finny’s police detective. Faced with murder, mayhem and mommy hood, Ruth had better find some answers fast.