As a coroner, Dr. Marv Henderson is more comfortable around corpses than with the living, especially his adult daughter, Mary, who refuses to speak to him. But when members of his book club are murdered the same way as characters in the mystery novel they're reading, he unwittingly leads the killer to his daughter's doorstep. And when a romance with a fellow book club member, the mysterious Lyla Baxter, finally seems possible, Dr. Marv fears she's involved in the serial killing and is nothing more than a deadly distraction.