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It all starts with a noisy toilet. Benny's janitor, Kogan, is preoccupied with the death of his sometime girlfriend, Lizzy Oldridge, who appears to have starved to death. Benny thinks that this is impossible in these modern times with all the social services available, but he agrees to attend the inquest if Kogan will look to the plumbing.
Lizzy may have died hungry but she did not die destitute. In fact, she had plenty of money - but it was all held in a box at the Upper Canadian Bank, and somehow former alderman and mayoralty candidate Thurleigh Ramsden had gained control of it. An unsavory character if ever there was one, Ramsden escapes the inquest with his reputation untarnished, while Benny finds himself hopelessly enmeshed in the posthumous troubles of Kogan's late love. How, for instance, has her tiny, neglected home become the linchpin in a major downtown property deal?
Temporarily distracted by a job that actually pays, Benny finds himself hot on the trail of a beautiful anchorwoman, encountering along the way a famous black mystery writer, an alcoholic media baroness, a group of blue-haired imperialists, and the smartest and drunkest lawyer in town. Meanwhile, Kogan's nude protest downtown threatens to land both him and Benny in even hotter water, and by the end of this twisting, turning tale, the body count has increased alarmingly. But has the toilet been fixed? Only Benny and his loyal readers know for sure.
