[1][2] Novelist Ralph Krunkleton has never been more than marginally successful, but his publishers are surprised to see sales of his novel The Stingray Shuffle soaring in a small bookstore in Miami Beach, Florida, called "The Palm Reader".

What they do not realize is that no one is reading the book; the owners of the bookstore are selling packets of cocaine in hollowed-out paperback copies of Shuffle, trusting that no legitimate customer will ask for such an obscure title.

Unfortunately, the publicity campaign sparks a reading at the store with Krunkleton as the guest speaker, where the cocaine in the books is discovered and the owners are forced to close and flee the county.

In the finale, the train derails, and Serge, "in character" as the mystery tour's detective, dramatically announces that one of the other actors, a washed-up hypnotist named Preston, was actually murdered rather than killed in the crash.

When they meet again to discuss Ralph Krunkelton's latest novel (a lurid potboiler inspired by his sudden notoriety after the train crash), they raise a toast to Serge, wherever he may be.