When Decimus Fortesque, the millionaire collector of wives and rare manuscripts, hires Archy McNally to locate the Holy Grail of missing tomes—the complete text of Truman Capote's Answered Prayers—Palm Beach's premier P.I. uncovers nothing but scandal.

Luscious Claudia Lester claims to have had the manuscript but declares that her lover, Matthew Harrigan, ran off with it; a lover scorned, Harrigan says Claudia is lying. And Rodney Whitehead, a shady antiques dealer, maintains that neither Claudia nor Harrigan is to be believed. When the supposed owner of the manuscript is found dead in a sleazy motel, the investigating officer, Georgia O'Hara, suspects Archy knows more than he's willing to admit about the murder, the manuscript, and its ardent pursuers composed of ne'er-do-wells and flimflam artists.