Charity Wiser, matriarch of the Wiser clan by virtue of her wealth and power, is an indomitable provocateur ... and private detective Russell Quant's newest employer. There is more than a single rotten apple on this family tree, and Quant has been hired to discover which one is intent on murdering his client. To help him sleuth out the evil culprit, Charity Wiser arranges a family reunion aboard the opulent Friends of Dorothy Cruiseliner as it tours the most exotic ports of the Mediterranean. But smooth sailing is short-lived as undercurrents of clashes - local and tourist, gay and straight, trendy and traditional - offer Russell insight into the Wisers and reveal a family simmering with rage and greed. He begins to wonder: who doesn't want Charity Wiser dead?