A mysterious collector, a missing manuscript, and a troika of lovely ladies challenge Archy McNally, south Florida's most famous Discreet Inquirer.

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 declares that her lover, Matthew Harrigan, ran off with it. Harrigan says Claudia is lying. When the supposed owner of the manuscript meets with misadventure in a sleazy motel, and Archy awakens in his Miata with a baseball-sized bump on the head, there's no end to the finger-pointing.

To add to Archy's woes, his favorite gal, Connie Garcia, is being courted by the dashing Alejandro Gomez y Zapata, who has vowed to liberate Cuba from Castro and Connie from Archy. But fear not, for should Archy lose Connie, there just might be a fair-haired lass ready to fill the void—so what if she's packing heat? Romance might have to take a backseat until Archy can sort out who's who among this felonious band of ne'er-do-wells and flimflam artists.