The volunteers who manage the Second-Run Thrift Shop are kept busy sorting the clothes, handbags, jewelry, hand-painted bon-bon dishes and mustache cups donated to the shop. But they're never too busy to gossip, and one of their favorite topics is Marian Colter. Plastic surgery has transformed Marian from an ugly duckling to a restless swan. Everybody in Wingate, except Marian's easy-going husband, seems to know that her newly acquired charms are being used to dazzle another man. Lucy Ramsdale, recently widowed after a long and happy marriage, is particularly concerned. It worries her that Marian is drinking too much. Then, at a large cocktail party, Marian becomes incoherent after two daiquiris and passes out. She never wakes up. Who poisoned Marian Colter? Inspector McDougal turns up almost as many theories as there were guests at the party, but Lucy, is particularly positive she knows who the killer is. And Lucy is unshakable, until a few days later when she makes the mistake of opening the ODDS AND ENDS bin in the Thrift Shop...