When a high society jewel thief winds up drowned at the bottom of a pool with a tacky garden gnome tied to her ankles, ex-debutante Nora, who cast aside her life of wealth and privilege to be a columnist for a Philadelphia newspaper, must swing into action to save her old flame, Flan Cooper, from a hasty murder charge.

When her boss is found bound in pantyhose and shot execution style, Nora Blackbird launches an investigation that brings her face to face with some of the most glamorous suspects in the City of Brotherly Love.

Nora Blackbird has made the society pages yet again.  The impoverished Philadelphia heiress has agreed to wed Mick Abruzzo, son of New Jersey’s most notorious mobster.  Now Nora has to help him survive the Blackbird curse: Every time a Blackbird sister marries, the groom is bound to die.
 
But Nora’s superstitions are eclipsed by some ominous news.  Penny Devine, ex-Hollywood starlet and daughter of the Philadelphia...

When the three Blackbird sisters show up to claim their deceased aunt's supposedly-fabulous country estate, they find a decayed house and a dead body.

"Nora Blackbird--pregnant at last!--is spending summer afternoons wallowing in the Bucks County pool of her best friend, Lexie Paine, who has just been released from prison. At night, Nora is covering Philadelphia's high-society events for the local newspaper. And this time she doesn't have to look far for a good story. Next door, a Broadway show is in rehearsal at the estate of Toodles Tuttle, the long-deceased but ever-legendary composer. Reigning...