The excerpts detail a private investigator's involvement in a case concerning the attempted shooting of a valuable racehorse named Hugger Mugger, which eventually leads to a murder investigation after the horse's owner, Walter Clive, is killed. The detective, Spenser, uncovers a complex family dynamic within the wealthy Clive family, including the strained marriages and secret lives of Clive's daughters and sons-in-law, Stonie, SueSue, Pud, and Cord. The investigation focuses on the family's security chief, Jon Delroy, and the possibility of a conspiracy involving the will and Clive's illegitimate son, Jason Hartman, with evidence pointing toward the manipulative daughter, Penny Clive. The source material also includes personal elements, such as Spenser's long-distance relationship with his therapist girlfriend, Susan Silverman, and a side-case involving a nanny in Boston.