It's Halloween season, year 2000. The discovery of a severed head in a Schiaparelli hatbox is no Halloween prank, however. For Jim "Beers" Biersovich, security chief for the La Scala department store in downtown Minneapolis, it signals the start of a complex case that requires every bit of brainpower he and his assistants can provide.
As abruptly as the head appears, it disappears, and Beers is charged with retrieving it and learning why it showed up in the store. The victim is a former co-worker at the Minnesota Herald, a crusty sportswriter who made lots of enemies. Beers is pressed to find people who didn't want Harry Devin dead.
Suspects pile up as Beers consults with his buddy Freddie, another sportswriter who knows a good bit about Harry's background. There's a bookie named Joey Pep, three ex-wives, a politician, a copy editor, a racehorse owner and the son of a former editor, any one of which could have done him in.
Beers' task is complicated further when he's assigned the duty of overseeing construction of a haunted house in the store. When the head reappears inside the haunted house, the pattern of clues begins to form a picture that eventually leads to the solution.
Helping with the legwork are Beers' unofficial assistants, New Orleans native Lena, a jewelry saleswoman, who tutors him on the fine points of haute couture; and Tina, a cosmetician, who goes undercover to track down one of Harry's inner circle.
There's inane conversation, red herrings, bizarre dreams and musical interludes, along with a bit of romance, that keep Beers distracted throughout. But his rock music knowledge, as always, provides the final pieces of the puzzle in this whodunit.