"Asey, what is an annulet?"

This innocent question would soon lead to further not-so-innocent questions. For starters, how did Asey's hat wind up on the beach with a bullet hole through it? Who tied up Cousin Syl's wife, Jennie, and threw her in the closet? Who was discourteous enough to strangle much-married Vivian Garth with someone else's belt? And who could predict that before this was ended, Asey would be tricked several times over, decoyed, robbed, and baffled by an elephant?