Trouble comes in bunches for Stephanie Plum. First, professional grave robber and semiprofessional loon Simon Diggery won't let her take him in until she agrees to care for his boa constrictor, Ethel. Stephanie's main qualification for babysitting an extremely large snake is that she owns a taser--whether that's for use on the wandering serpent or the petrified neighbors remains to be seen.
Events take a dark turn when headless bodies start appearing across town. At first it's just corpses from a funeral home and the morgue that have had the heads removed. But when a homeless man is murdered and dumped behind a church, Stephanie knows that she's the only one with a prayer of catching this killer.
If all that's not enough, Diesel's back in town. The six-foot-tall, blond-haired hunk is a man who accepts no limits--that includes locked doors, closed windows, and underwear. Trenton's hottest cop, Joe Morelli, isn't pleased at this unexpected arrival, nor is Ranger, the high-powered security consultant who has his own plans for Stephanie.
As usual, Jersey's favorite bounty hunter is stuck in the middle, with more questions than answers. What's the deal with Grandma Mazur's latest online paramour? Who is behind the startling epidemic of mutilated corpses? And is the enigmatic Diesel's sudden appearance a coincidence or the cause of recent deadly events?
壞事總會接踵發生在史蒂芬妮．帕盧身上，首先她遇到職業盜墓者西蒙迪哥里，他是一個無賴，他要求史蒂芬妮幫忙照顧他的大蟒蛇埃塞爾，否則就不配合她。史蒂芬妮因持有泰瑟電擊槍，而成為照看大蟒蛇的人選，不過誰也無法保證這把電擊槍將用於對付溜走的蟒蛇，或拯救飽受驚嚇的居民。
自無頭屍身開始出現於城市各處後，整件事變得更加黑暗，這件事起初只發生在某戶辦喪禮的人家，還有停屍間裡的屍體頭部遭移除。不過當一位無家可歸的男子遇害，且遭棄屍於教堂後方時，史蒂芬妮察覺到自己成為逮捕兇手的唯一希望。
然而麻煩不僅如此，大塊頭迪索重返城裡了！這位男子身高六英尺並留有一頭金髮，他的詭異行徑沒有極限。特倫頓最辣女警喬．莫雷莉，以及高階安全顧問雷傑，都對這位不速之客的到來感到不悅，特別是雷傑對史蒂芬妮另有計畫。
澤西島最受器重的賞金獵人，正一如往常地思索著各種疑問，試圖找出答案。這一切是否和馬薩爾奶奶最近的網路情人有關？誰又是驚悚連環分屍案的幕後兇手？迪索令人匪夷所思的突然來訪只是巧合嗎？還是與最近的兇殺案有關？