When innkeeper Judith McMonigle Flynn promises husband Joe never to find another dead body, she wavers when she receives a dubious B&B reservation at Hillside Manor from a Mary Smith of New York City. More than Judith's curiosity is piqued when she recognizes her new arrival as Ruby Tooms, the world-weary barmaid from Little Bavaria, checking in with an overnight bag and a cold case of murder. Ruby's strangled mother is long gone, but the killer was never caught. To compound interest for both Flynns, the unsolved case was a first for Joe's former homicide partner, Woody Price. Maybe it's time to revisit the scene of the crime. With a reluctant Cousin Renie in tow, Judith ventures into her long-forsaken old neighborhood, the site of the McMonigles' ill-fated Meat & Mingle Cafe. Traipsing from nursing home to nursery garden, from butcher shop and bus stop to beer and betting parlors, Judith and Renie track down a killer intent on seeing them come in dead last.