The Red Hot Empress

The spicy Szabo women would like to kick back with a lover, a good movie, and a few laughs, but life has something else in mind. One meeting with an extraordinary boy leads them headlong into another wild, and hair-raising, adventure. Annie Szabo has discovered a miracle-Jimmy Qi, a kid from Chinatown with the power to heal using music. He's dazzling, he's a scoundrel, he is sensitive, and he makes a great newspaper article. But now? Everyone wants Jimmy. Feeling responsible for creating San Francisco's latest hot commodity, Annie enlists her mother-in-law, the audacious fortune-teller Madame Mina, to help keep Jimmy safe from his avid pursuers: an evangelist; an ex-hero with a troubled past; the tongs; a CDC doctor; a dolphin fanatic; and an FBI agent who seems too good to be true. A set of aging twins with a vivid past and a dubious future offer Annie protection. The women have powerful alliances, and they like Annie's style. She has reservations, but after an afternoon spent slamming back Bombay Gin with the ladies, Annie accepts their help. And then the bodies start turning up. Annie grabs Jimmy and runs, luring the killer through a tangle of Chinese New Year celebrations and north, up the deserted California coast, where she and Madame Mina force the killer to face justice.