"Beauty Tips for the Dead" is about two young guys, David and Jonathan, who are marketing executives in an advertizing company. They want badly to become product placement specialists. Before work, after work, at lunch, and during coffee breaks they develop multiple uncensored marketing plans that display their creative talents. They believe these schemes will inevitably bring them fame and riches beyond comprehension. But they never actually get the chance to implement their ideas. Then, David gets fired. With time on his hands he develops a master plan for a grand festival - a marketer's dream. He searches for the catalyst, the trigger that will blow this little weekend outing into an earth shaking event. The festival combines two historical events which, frankly, should never be joined. "Beauty Tips" is equally about Mary and Jane, two young professional women: one is a nurse and the other is a writer/musician/mortician's assistant. They are both quirky - one is almost a saint and the other is a bit dark. As children they were as close as sisters, but a confounding event sent them in dramatically different directions. Years later, when they each become disillusioned with their jobs and lives, they both decide to make a new start. Bringing an assortment of life's baggage with them, they meet again in grad school. Just when they get started with their new life plans, they meet David and get caught up in his precarious plan. "Beauty Tips" is about friendship and betrayal and curveballs. Life is unpredictable. The book is about choices and how one's very worst moment may lead to the very best consequences - or not. When life gives you lemons, you can make lemonade; or you can slice it, squeeze it, and squirt the juice back in life's eye.