BACK STAB is a mystery about the newspaper business—which has always been murder. Now someone is killing off readers, and the St. Louis City Gazette can't afford to lose circulation.Gazette columnist Francesca Vierling takes these deaths personally—reliable sources are hard to find—and Francesca's search for the killer takes her into the strange side streets of St. Louis, including a visit to the Miss Gender Bender Pageant, a beauty contest for female impersonators. Along the way Francesca must determine if her own blood soaked past is clouding her view of the future.