Angelo DeMarko, former enforcer for a New York mob family and now personal friend of Jim and Penny finally got his wish, to open an Italian restaurant. Jim fronted the money and the restaurant was a reality. Open now just a month, a famed restaurant critic was going to review the restaurant and came to check it out. Later that same critic was found dead in the restaurant with his face buried in a plate of pasta. Who would want to murder the annoying man who gave everyone in the restaurant a hard time. While Jim and Deacon work the case they find a connection to the reviewer's past in government, was he killed by our own people in power. Blackmail could be the motive when the critic's gay lover is also murdered. Who is the killer? Also Jim has to contend with a woman appearing in his office claiming to be his long lost daughter. Is she really, or is she just scamming Jim and Penny? This is the 22nd Jim and Penny book.