Murder's Little Sister

As the advice columnist at You magazine, Enid Marley is everyone's favorite agony aunt, doling out prescriptions to the lovelorn and the weeping, to those consumed with jealousy and those crippled by bad breath. When it comes to her own problems, though, Enid's suggestions may be somewhat less helpful: Deal with a straying husband, she counsels herself, by faking your own suicide.

Her efforts are not entirely successful, and in her absence, an unemployed ballet dancer is hired to fill her shoes. His notion of advice, however, does not sit well with the magazine's readership, and soon Enid's fans (long accustomed to her admonishment that they kick passivity in the teeth and rise against their oppressors) are threatening to storm the magazine and wreak vengeance. In the meantime, a notorious killer has gone walkabout, and a drunken reporter has taken up residence in the elevator. In short, it's business as usual for the writer known by her peers as "the funniest lady you've never met."