BACK STAB is a mystery about the newspaper business--which has always been murder. Now someone is killing off readers, and the St. Louis City Gazette can't afford to lose circulation. Gazette columnist Francesca Vierling takes these deaths personally--reliable sources are hard to find--and Francesca's search for the killer takes her into the strange side streets of St. Louis, including a visit to the Miss Gender Bender Pageant, a beauty contest for female impersonators. Along the way Francesca must determine if her own blood soaked past is clouding her view of the future.