On an early-morning walk through the nature preserve on the east end of Folly Beach on their way to photograph the iconic Morris Island Lighthouse, Chris Landrum and his friend Charles Fowler's peaceful morning takes an abrupt turn. They encounter a woman who tells them she got separated from her husband during a storm, then claims they'd been relic hunting. Her husband can't verify what he and his wife were doing. He's dead—murdered.
With the horrific death on everyone's mind, Theo Stoll, another of Chris's friends learns his recently widowed daughter-in-law is moving to Folly saying she wants to be near her only living relative. But, what does the woman Theo has never met really want? A family connection or to con the wealthy retiree.
Lies, contradictions, stories of ghosts, pirates, Civil War relics, and buried treasure, combine with no shortage of murder suspects to challenge Chris and his friends to solve the crime that's stumped the police. Not only solve it but solve it before more are killed.