Tory Wallace didn't like surprises. Her life might have been considered boring and simple, but it was the way she wanted it. So, when she finds the dead body of the famous media magnate, George Cahill, in her closet, her world tips on its axis and she finds herself stumbling right into the middle of a full-blown murder mystery, swirling in the tiny seaside town of Brennan's Bay. Despite her best intentions, Tory finds herself making unlikely friends, taking in a stray dog, and tangling herself up in a tug of war with the steamy local sheriff; all while trying to find out who murdered George Cahill, and why his body was left to be found in her new house. Needless to say, the chaos of her new surroundings and characters, Tory is swept up in the whirlwind of the case and everything that goes along with it.