For Nell Styles the town of Merrivale offered irresistible

serenity and charm. With its funny twisting streets

and edectic architecture, it reminded her of a village set

on the seacoast of England. Nell found a house with

sunny rooms and a big studio where she could paint

like Picasso, in the nude. And she found good friends in

Menivale-Lily, the smart, energetic reporter, and Kit,

whose flower child past is part of her present appeal.

Paul Varensky, the cool, sophisticated scientist who

becomes her lover, completes the beautiful new life

Nell has created for herself in Merrivale Even the

evidence of encroaching chicness-the smart new cafe

and "My Indiscretion7 a lingerie shop that specializes

in expensive, sexy undergarments and provocative

window displays-seems unlikely to spoil the agree-

able small-town atmosphere

At first, the presence of Nell s new neighbor seems to

be nothing more than a distraction; the three friends

are curious about the balding, bearded, and invariably

bare-chested Will. To them he becomes The Man

With The Yella Dog, an enigmatic stranger who pos-

sesses some fine Victorian furniture, a seductive guitar,

and has no visible means of support. He is a convenient

new character for Nell, Lily, and Kit to work into their

shared fantasies of the perfect lover.

But with Will come disturbing new changes: and

each woman becomes more than passively enthralled.

At the same time the surface calm of picturesque Mer-

rivale is broken by underworld drug smuggling in the

harbor and the brutal murder of Officer Marianne

Banks, who won t be the last woman murdered in

Merrivale.

With the arrival of two men to Will s house,Nell and

her friends are provoked to discover who they are and

what they are about. For Nell, the reasons to unravel

the mysteries surrounding Will are complicated by her

uncomfortable attraction to him.