Summer promises to be anything but easy for Quaker linguistics professor Lauren Rousseau in this thrilling sequel to Speaking of Murder. With her boyfriend Zac returning to Haiti to visit his family, Lauren is on her own in Ashford, Massachusetts—and danger is never far behind. Still reeling from an attack by her student's murderer, Lauren decides to brush up on her karate and finds herself drawn to handsome sensei Dan Talbot. During a run near the sea bluffs, she discovers the corpse of her insurance agent, Charles Heard, who is also a Trustee for one of the oldest land trusts in the country. Earlier that day, Lauren had a public argument with Heard over her policy— and is now a suspect in the case. Determined to clear her name, Lauren sets out to discover the real story behind the mismanaged land trust, the dead man's volatile sister—and a possible link to her own father's mysterious death more than a decade ago. But a near miss with a car, snippets of strange conversations in French and Farsi, slashed tires, and finding yet another attack victim on the beach make it clear that Lauren is also a target—and the killer is closing in. Can Lauren discover the killer before she becomes the next victim?