Best friends and sleuths, Doan McCandler and Binky Van de Kamp, have just started to enjoy the fruits of their (I would say labor, but these two don't do labor!) successful San Francisco Detective Agency, when their significant others (Tim and Luke) get jobs in New York. They are going to work for an eccentric billionaire (Andrew Weatherall) who made them offers they couldn't refuse.

Doan is a man who is going to follow his man and Binky is a woman who is being persuaded to follow hers. After Doan and Binky get to the Big Apple, Binky gets a swell job from Andrew; she gets to give away a billion dollars to needy causes. Doan, on the other hand, is not given anything to do, and a man can only buy so many kitchen utensils!

But Doan isn't someone who's easily kept on the sidelines, while wearing one of his better dresses he manages to find work (not to mention his calling) as an inspirational consultant for a major New York fashion designer. Things are just ducky for this fabulous foursome until Andrew's nemesis, Howard Kildare, enters the picture.

Kildare is a right-wing extremist who hates Andrew, primarily because Andrew is liberal but also because he is gay. Kildare wants to infiltrate Andrew's conglomerate and he fights dirty. Kildare and Andrew's personal war escalates when Kildare steals Andrew's technology and outs Andrew's lover, who is a sports hero.

Shortly after these events, Andrew vows to retaliate; then, suddenly, Kildare is found murdered in Andrew's office. Now Doan and Binky must don their detectives' hats to round up the bad guys and ensure that nice-guy Andrew does not end up in jail for a crime they want to believe he didn't commit.

The major problem with Death Wore the Emperor's New Clothes is that you have to read more than half the book to get to the murder mystery. After the murder, this book really takes off and it's fast, fun reading.

But the first hundred pages are filled with lots of inside jokes and many references to Doan and Binky's past "adventures." If you haven't read the previous books, you'll feel a little left out of the loop.

--Judith Flavell