Jessica Fletcher has had plenty to worry about over her storied career, but she never had any reason to worry about her longtime publisher, Lane Barfield. So when mounting evidence of financial malfeasance leads to an FBI investigation of Lane, Jessica can't believe what she's reading. When Lane turns up dead, Jessica takes on the task of proving her innocence—she can't fathom someone she's known and trusted for so long cheating her. Sure enough, Jessica's lone-wolf investigation turns up several oddities and inconsistencies in the murder. Jessica knows something is being covered up, but what exactly? At the heart of Jessica's investigation lies a manuscript that Lane had intended to publish after all other publishers had turned it down. The problem is that the manuscript has disappeared. With her own life now in jeopardy, Jessica refuses to back off and sets her sights on learning the contents of that manuscript and what about it may have led to several murders...