Reluctant psychic Charlie Greene is called on to solve the case when a horror-film director gets the ax—and Charlie's mother is the prime suspect

Between doing lunches, making deals, and being a full-time single mom, Hollywood literary agent and part-time psychic Charlie Greene doesn't have time to solve crimes. But when the number-one suspect in the murder of schlock horror director Gordon Cabot is her menopausal mother, Charlie suddenly finds herself a major player in a real-life movie more shocking than any screenwriter could have dreamed up.

Cabot's callous disregard for the teeming plant life and critters serving as extras in his overbudget new film has made him plenty of enemies, including Charlie's mother, a biology professor specializing in rodents of the high-desert plateau. In spite of their volatile relationship, Charlie's certain that her mother's hot flashes have nothing to do with the corpse chilling out in this remote stretch of Utah desert, and to clear her mom's name, Charlie teams up with swoonworthy superstar environmentalist Mitch Hilsten.

Amid warring film crews, wild cliff glides, and fears that Charlie's agency is going under, she and Mitch race to catch a cunning killer of the lethal, two-legged variety in this electrifying novel.