After a bitter and humiliating breakup, Charlie Vernon lives not-quite-alone in his Capitol Hill town house. He kept Mamie, the cockapoo that he and Freddie adopted together, but he's just arrived home to find he's been visited by thieves...and they've taken Mamie. For the next thirty-six hours, he and his family of choice-a pair of rhyming lesbians, a Georgia-born man who might be married to a sex addict, and the hostess of DC's hottest Drag Bingo-will...

When 200 people from Washington gather at a cocktail reception for Senate Majority Leader Cale Caldwell, they are horrified to find the guest of honor with an icepick through his chest. Lawyer Lydia James is called upon by the widow to act as special counsel to the Senate subcommittee investigating Caldwell's murder. When her prime suspect turns out to be Caldwell's son, Mark, whose past involves an unsolved murder and participation in a religious...