With her 40th birthday dead ahead, Tyler Knight declares independence by quitting a go-nowhere staff job in an overlarge law firm. But before she walks, she gets even. Now, what to do about a more consequential problem? Her ex-husband has threatened that she won't live to see her next birthday. Clearly, the time is right to get out of town. Tyler moves to Southern Indiana where she sets up shop for private investigations even before she receives a license, and gets her first case from conspicuous advertising. Successful young Realtor Sally Ann Lowe hires Tyler to find who is terrifying her with sinister phone calls, a predicament all too familiar to Tyler. When Sally Ann discovers a dead man with a phone cord wrapped around his neck, Tyler is caught up in murder. By the time Sally Ann's fiancé, Cam, disappears, the usually self-assured Tyler worries she is in over her head. The investigation is bound to test Tyler's intelligence and resourcefulness as she probes the secrets of Cam's prestigious law firm. Following a path of greed and hidden motives from wealthy, sophisticated Columbus, to the tiny town of Bean Blossom, to the tourist Mecca of Forest Hills, to gambling in the Grand Victoria Casino on the murky Ohio River, Tyler races through danger to catch a killer and vindicate herself before the malicious threats to Sally Ann turn into another audacious murder.