COVER STORY SYNOPSIS

Ira and Phoebe, young screenwriters, are struggling with a film about a jewel heist in Cuba. The story revolves around an unusual Mob character but they can't get past the old Mafia tropes -- everything resembles a classic Italian American mob movie -- and their deadline is looming.

They approach Joan Ross, a highly regarded expert on political assassinations, to get some background information on Jack Ruby -- an atypical Mafia guy that could provide the model for their character; she ends up joining their team. Cover Story takes off as Joan starts digging deeper into Ruby's life unleashing a pandora's box of death and destruction.

Joan is thorny and combative and clashes frequently with Phoebe and Ira. She tries again and again to push them into telling the ‘real story’ about the Kennedy assassination – her big passion – but they won't budge. They resent her sucking time away from their project with unhelpful tirades and blind alleys. Phoebe, in particular, just wants to finish up the draft, meet the deadline, and move on.

Meanwhile Donaldo Escarolla, a real life Mafia don, hears about their project; he needs to insure that his own family's involvement with Jack Ruby never comes to light. He has Joan followed and then arranges to have her 'taken out' at a big Hollywood gala -- not only to get rid of her but to also send a message to other Hollywood big shots that he's still around and still pulling the strings.

Phoebe steps in to replace Joan at the magazine where she worked, and begins to appreciate the importance of getting to the bottom of Ruby's role in the assassination of JFK. She is unaware that Escarolla is now monitoring her office and has noted her change of heart.

When Don hears that Ruby's safe deposit box has been found, he sends his nephew  to retrieve the papers and kill the locksmith. When he learns that Ruby's sister is still alive, he stops her from giving out any more information. When Phoebe locates a doctor who took care of Ruby in prison and was privy to his secrets, Don has a bomb planted at the home of her magazine publisher, where the doctor and his wife will be staying,

Ira joins Phoebe in seeking justice and retribution for all these murders; they want Escarolla to spend the rest of his life in jail. And with their help, the FBI finally has enough to send Don away forever; however at sentencing he's granted home incarceration due to his advance age and health. This leniency infuriates Phoebe and she exposes his crimes in a special edition of the magazine. The issue attracts national attention, is nominated for a Pulitzer, and subscriptions go through the roof.

BLOOD IN THE STREET, BOOK TWO

One of Relevant Magazine best reporters, Louie Ruiz, gets assigned to cover the retrial of Sirhan Sirhan -- the only media outlet allowed behind the scenes. He is welcomed in by the team of the Innocents Advocates, a small feisty group of lawyers led by Judith Greene, who is running Sirhan's defense.

Louie is privileged to be able to witness and later report on how these attorneys invest all their time, talent and even their souls to get Sirhan's verdict overturned; they'll stop at nothing to see him get released from jail after spending 50 years wrongly incarcerated.

With limited resources, the IA is chronically under-staffed, but now, with a looming deadline and a mountain of precedents to review, it's become a crisis. Judith hires someone to help out but before the young man can begin, an unfortunate car accident waylays his appearance. In a rush to replace him, Judith hires the nephew of an old college boyfriend, Bennett, and the team hunkers down to make up lost time.

The Advocates work day-and-night to get their defense ready; there is evidence to evaluate that has not been catalogued properly, witnesses to interview including some living out of the country and some too old to be credible, along with several theories to be tested out.

A photo of Sirhan standing in front of a Rosicrucian church helps to break the case wide open; a receipt for ammunition is another find that will help prove their case.

The Advocates build a defense that Sirhan did not operate alone, and they surmount a series of hurdles and setbacks along the way to get there. At the last minute, a key attorney is taken ill, but even then they are able to pivot and proceed. Their evidence is solid and they believe they've built a winning case -- they want to see justice served.

The shock of receiving a guilty verdict sends Sirhan back to prison for life. Judith, inconsolable, kills herself several days later. It's only at the very end we realize someone has been orchestrating this outcome from the very beginning. Sirhan never had a real chance at freedom.

 FLYING BLIND, BOOK THREE

Phoebe is now a committed muckraker and meets a young man who once worked for George Magazine at a publishing conference. This man asserts that John Kennedy Jr.'s plane crash is very suspicious -- he knew John well and he was neither the 'impulsive' nor ‘reckless young man' that the media assigned. Intrigued, Phoebe asks Ira to look into John's accident more fully with the hopes of uncovering another block-buster exclusive for the magazine. It’s then they both realize Phoebe has become Joan reincarnated.