Small-town librarian Gwen Barlow gets more than she expected when she inherits her Uncle Eli's lavish turn-of-the-century showboat, the Jubilee Palace. Gwen, her younger brother, Preston, and their mother, Lillian, leave their Ohio home for the Mississippi River, only to discover that the Jubilee is in serious financial straits, Eli's death by a falling theater backdrop is under suspicion, and the showboat family of actors and musicians are all suspects. Gwen's adventure begins in the bawdy river town of Hickory Bend, Missouri, where she discovers several citizens who also have reasons for wanting to see the flamboyant but irresponsible Eli Willoughby done in. Her plans to move the monstrous wedding cake with a pilot house upriver to become a profit-making venture are thwarted when the local constable declares Eli's demise a murder and orders the Jubilee to remain in Hickory Bend until the crime is solved. Gwen must take on the task of amateur sleuthing to bring the riddle of her uncle's death to a close. Her investigation leads her into a terrifying encounter, which nearly results in her own death and that of the Jubilee's delicate inginue. One by one, the suspects drop faster than an Act Three curtain until Gwen unravels the mystery of death and deception in the floating theater.Cynthia Thomason lives in Florida.