A book release party at a local bookstore is interrupted by the arrival of a police officer announcing a man was murdered on Bowen Island, located fewer than two miles from Chris Landrum's adopted home on Folly Beach, South Carolina. Even before the identity of the victim is known, the retired bureaucrat's best friend and self-proclaimed private detective Charles Fowler decides it's their responsibility to catch the killer.

To complicate the seemingly impossible task, the two amateur detectives suspect the death is connected to a fifty-year-old theft of gold and jewels valued in the millions and believe the treasure is buried on Bowen Island near the iconic Bowens Island Restaurant. Their search for the killer intensifies when an acquaintance of Chris and Charles, who happens to be the victim's neighbor, is killed. Now there is no doubt it's up to them to catch the murderer; the problem becomes how to do it without becoming the next victims.