When second-rate ventriloquist Skipper Keats dies of a heart attack at his comedy club, Skipper's son Will learns of the bizarre codicil to his father's will: Skipper has requested that he be buried with Dapper O'Dell, his favorite dummy.  But after the funeral, and after Dapper visits Will in a dream, Will realizes that the grave is not, after all, the appropriate resting-place for this very valuable piece of teakwood.  Will's surreptitious exhuming of the coffin reveals a new surprise, someone has beaten him to it.  The dummy is gone, and the mystery is afoot.

Dedication:
For Ginger's mom & the Gurley Drive Kid
and
in memory of Ross