When a major hurricane devastates a Florida fishing village Maeva Larson suspects some of the deaths are not storm related.

Still grieving the death of her fiancé, Maeva Larson vacations on Paradise Isle, Florida, "the luckiest fishing village in the world," where she finds the dead body of Miss Florida, Tara Baxter, floating in the Gulf. The cause of death is uncertain, and when a hurricane blows ashore, another woman is found dead and two other women are reported missing. As a catastrophe insurance investigator, Maeva knows the storm has destroyed precious clues, but she thinks her CAT credentials will allow her to find out what happened to these women.

Sean Redmond, acclaimed mystery writer and Paradise Isle resident, pursues Maeva from the first moment they meet. She tries to resist him, but then succumbs to his charm, until she reads a section of his latest manuscript, which is too close to the truth to be fiction. Uncertain of Sean, yet hoping he is not a murderer, she follows the clues from a crystal necklace, a hitchhiker, who may have seen the killer, and a black dog named Onyx. No doubt this dog possesses special powers and Maeva decides to trust Onyx's instincts while risking her own life.