In a not too remote past Winston Costello lives a banal existence. A gifted artist unable to sell his paintings, he’s employed part-time as a composite sketch artist for the New York City police department. To make ends meet he also works for the Natural History Museum. And later, for Fabbio Mancini, one of the world’s leading fashion designers. On a personal level Winston’s future is no less tenuous. Responsible for a father who hears divine voices, Winston struggles with a failing marriage, raging hypochondria and a conviction that the human experience is nothing more than a succession of senseless shootings and mass murders. Then things get worse. On line to purchase opera tickets at Lincoln Center Winston, along with others, is randomly shot by a deranged woman. After a brief convalescence that includes visits to an eccentric internist and a pedantic psychiatrist, Winston begins receiving anonymous letters threatening him for having testified against the deranged woman in court. Afraid to tell anyone he begins to connect the letters with a series of random murders that include his wife and several of her colleagues and acquaintances. Convinced it is only a matter of time before he too is killed, Winston goes through the motions of his mundane life more frightened than ever. In contrast to Winston Costello is Jasper Carney: a man who has achieved success both in business and in love. Once married to the only woman he treasured, Jasper now finds himself infirm and widowed. And straddled with a second wife who is eager to rid herself of the malcontent he has become and live on the great wealth he amassed during his life. Once he discovers her plan Jasper is determined to derail it. Ultimately his intrigues embroil Fabbio Mancini and Winston himself. A fast-paced murder mystery, Degrees Of Mischief reaffirms the innate belief that the human experience is one well worth undergoing--regardless of the consequences.