Jon Megquire went to Cape Cod in the summer of 1979 expecting to play baseball in the Cape Cod Baseball League – a stepping stone from college to the big leagues. He expected to be tooling around in his MG Midget that he called Maybelline. He expected to have fun with his teammates, to build stuff with his contractor host family, and simply enjoy a Cape Cod summer.

But it didn’t turn out that way.

In 1979 oil was being held hostage and major league baseball salaries were about to broach the million dollar per year mark. Microprocessor technology was in its infancy and the internet and cell phones were barely a shadow on the horizon. It was the year that the national housing bubble began and production homebuilding was gearing up. Mortgage rates were over 11%. It was the year that “My Sharona” by The Knack was number one and “The Logical Song” by Supertramp was number twenty-seven.

In the midst of all these variables Jon did not expect to be unravelling a murder or finding out that a house can be bad for a person’s health.

The Salsberg’s mansion on Jolo Point connects Jon to the Salsberg family who is trying to vacation while battling through family discord. The matriarch of the family, Faith Salsberg has no intentions of turning over the reins of her company and retiring and that irritates her son-in-law, Garret Scoles. He is quite relieved when she dies suddenly during the renovation of the house. It is quite obvious to Garret that the contractor, Jon’s summer boss, is to blame.

So while Jon was trying to sort out his future in a major league baseball career, the affections of his summer girlfriend, and a growing affinity for houses and construction, he is determined to figure out what happened to the old lady and clear his boss’s name and reputation.