Book jacket has some tears at top of spine Discoloration Cover shows shelf wear Small stain on book ledge Little Brown, 1971, 343 pages Every summer, many of the richest and most prestigious members of high society gather in Newport to submerge themselves in balls, regattas, dinner parties —and gossip. Gossip that never reaches the ears of outsiders, however. Until Peter Dorios comes along. Restless, separated from his wife, nearly broke, Dorios comes to Newport to find some much-needed stability and to work on his book, Newport: A City in Meta-morphosis. Stability, however, is the last thing he finds. Almost upon arrival, Peter runs into Steven Stellwaithe, an old college friend who also happens to be the scion of one of the oldest families on Ocean Drive. In no time at all, Stellwaithe introduces his friend not only to the whirl of Newport social activity, but, inadvertent-ly, to the disturbances beneath its surface. Peter begins to notice cracks in the fabled Newport social poise: What, he wonders, lies behind the famous alcoholism of dowager Lydia Beyard? What strange attraction exists between Steve Stellwaithe and his sister, Wilma? Why is Wilma's husband, Rex, so openly amorous with other women? And what, above all, is the real involvement of Wilma, Steve and Rex in the mysterious death of the Stellwaithe’s former secretary two years ago?