When a prospective clients claims all Bainbridge men are cursed, arson investigator-turned-private detective Charlie Meiklejohn doesn't want to take the case -- even though he knows resistance is futile. Psychologist Constance Leidl, his partner and wife, simply cannot resist confronting a curse. The late Howard Bainbridge's cryptic will stipulates that each family member has just 12 hours to choose one item from his home, but then can never return. A rumored five million in cashiers' checks somewhere in the house raises the stakes and deepens suspicions. Matters become further complicated when unsolved drowning deaths and yet another murder are connected to the investigation. It takes Meiklejohn and Leidl's combined detective skills to unravel the mystery of the Bainbridge Curse and expose a killer. -- Wilhelm's first story was published in 1956. She has recently returned to writing mysteries with her Barbara Holloway and her Constance Leidl and Charlie Meiklejohn novels. -- Wilhelm has contributed to Quark, Orbit, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Locus, Amazing Stories, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Fantastic, Omni, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Redbook, and Cosmopolitan. Over the span of her career, Wilhelm's writing has crossed over many genres and mediums. Her works have been adapted for stage, television, radio and movies in the United States, England, and Germany, and have been translated to more than a dozen languages.