SURVIVAL CAN BE DEADLY is a lighthearted mystery about a discount detective agency located in a mall – Vigilance You Can Afford. It is also the story of one woman’s struggle to find new direction after the death of her husband and a lengthy period of unemployment. Although Cameron Chandler’s PhD is in liberal arts, she can’t resist a “help wanted” sign she sees in the window of Penny-wise Investigations. She not only lands a job but gets a chance to reinvent herself. Although her mother and her two children have trouble seeing her as a "real" detective. Her first assignment at Penny-wise Investigations is to locate a runaway girl, a straightforward assignment that takes several unexpected twists and eventually leads her to a survivalist camp on a remote island in the San Juan Islands north of Seattle. Armed with only a Swiss Army Knife and her on-the-job training as a suburban sleuth, she uncovers more than she bargained for and finds herself in a fight for her own survival.