Among the Four Hundred, grand entertainments are planned, fashionable outfits are displayed, and people partake of every pleasure, from an outing at Bailey's Beach to tennis at the Casino. Few are unduly troubled by the murder of maids on the Cliff Walk. But when one of the dead girls turns out to be a socialite, the tenor of the case changes.

Newport detective Matt Devlin has been troubled about the crimes since the beginning. It has been four weeks since the Four Hundred returned to Newport; there are 4 girls dead. The coincidence is too big to ignore. Matt's relationship with the wealthy "cottagers" is rocky at best, yet to solve this case he'll need their cooperation. His luck changes, though, when he again encounters Brooke Cassidy, once a close friend, and now herself a cottager.

"Identifying a dead body is just not done," Brooke has been told by her aunt, and yet she has found herself doing so. Partly because of that, she needs to help solve the crimes. As her aunt's social secretary, Brooke has access both to the cottagers and to the staffs of the great houses. The last thing Matt wants is to involve a civilian in the investigation, but her help is too invaluable. Soon they have entered into an uneasy partnership.

As the summer goes on, as another girl is killed and yet another threatened, the tension in the town and the urgency to solve the case both rise. No one, it seems, is safe. Not even, perhaps, Brooke...