What could be more fun than a day at the beach? A month at the beach, perhaps? That's what teenager Mary Ann Markham, her live-in writing coach Art Parker, and her best friend Jennifer Martin think when Mary Ann convinces her wealthy grandfather to rent a fancy beach house for the entire month of July near the small East Coast town of Shipwreck.
But then strange things begin to happen, especially with the appearance of several not very well preserved bodies, an unexpected shooting or two, and a murder with mob overtones. Meanwhile, Art becomes close friends with a local emergency room doctor named Marsha, and he and the girls become somewhat less than close friends with the local police chief, primarily because of the bodies they keep finding. Then Mary Ann and Jennifer disappear shortly before a major hurricane hits the area.
Could it be retired mobster "Little" Tony Gambolo, who lives a short distance down the beach, that's behind all these deaths and the disappearance of the girls? Art, with Marsha's help, is at his wits' end trying to find Mary Ann, Jennifer, and the answer to who's behind the killings.