Tells the story of early-twentieth-century Irish-American cook Mary Mallon, who was immortalized as "Typhoid Mary" after a sanitary engineer traced a 1904 typhoid fever outbreak back to her Long Island kitchen.

In which Mrs. Warren has a servant problem -- In which the Warrens get more than their just desserts -- In which the usual suspects are questioned -- In which an epidemic fighter hunts for a clue -- In which the cook rules the kitchen -- In which Mary walks more like a man than a woman -- In which extraordinary and arbitrary powers are at work -- In which Mary fights like a caged lion -- In which Mary's bad behavior leads to her doom -- In which there's some name calling -- In which Mary is banished like a leper -- In which Mary has her day in court -- In which Mary learns to keep her germs to herself -- In which it takes a squad of sanitary police -- In which a weaker spirit might have been broken -- Afterword, in which we consider the writing of Mary's life.