#6 in the Detective Inspector Carol Ashton mystery series finds Carol recovering from a gunshot wound received in the line of duty underestimating one of Mark Bourke's suspected murderers. So soon back to work Carol finds herself with the unenviable duty to play bodyguard (or babysitter as Carol sees it) to one Marla Strickland. Marla is a very outspoken American feminist with as many haters as she does supporters. Not wanting the job and the Marla not wanting her, Carol begrudgingly takes the position (what choice does she really have) and is off on a tour of Australia trying to keep Marla safe. Reeling from Sybil's departure to England for a year long women focused course, Carol finds her emotions in a whirlwind between Sybil, Marla, Denise, Anne and the ever seductive and tempting Madeleine Shipley. First there were the threats, then the bomb, then the sniper, now with the last appearance being a debate against one of the top god fearing woman hating "preachers" Carol has taken it upon herself to insure the safety of everyone involved. The main problem may be that Carol doesn't want to put her life on the line again for the job but she cares too much about her job let alone the women involved to stop now. With all the plausible threats out of the television studio most people are relaxing but not Carol, she realizes the previous attempts were leading up to this moment, the very publicized tv moment, but who could be at the root of it all? It couldn't be the famed woman hater as he would never dirty his hands with such a task and everyone else has been checked for weapons, well except for one person...