Thirteen interrelated short stories delivering an entertaining glimpse into the dysfunctional lives of a group of hoity-toity Connecticut think tank intellectuals as they philosophize over wine and cheese, fall in and out of love and go about their daily lives with reckless abandon. Most of the action takes place in the kitchen of the institute's director, Leslie Shakespeare, while Leslie's wife alternatively entertains and lambastes their friends. --Publishers Weekly.

An introduction : Money, fame, and beautiful women -- Cousins : An absence of cousins -- Talk in Eliza's kitchen -- Crime : Garbage thief -- At whom the dog barks -- A gated community -- Deaths: Fatal wish -- Other people's deaths -- The Howling : Reverse bug -- By joy surprised : Picnic -- Mistrral -- Leslie's shoes -- An end : Yom Kippur card.