It's the sweltering summer of '95 and most of the public remains indoors, watching the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Down south in sweltering New Orleans, a literary celebrity lies dead of a mysterious rattlesnake bite in his penthouse suite. Margo Fortier, the stripper-turned-society columnist and her gay husband, Julian, follow the murderer's trail aboard a cruise ship to attend a mystery conference where they meet the usual contingent of writers, fans, publishers, and the rabid "pre-published" along with a god-like Greek deckboy, a priest traveling incognito, and a dissipated, old horror writer and his dominatrix.