Eliza Tahan, Assistant Editor at J Press, worries she might become the target of a disgruntled author after her boss is murdered and a form rejection letter is found on the scene. Though her boss was the star of the company, it's Eliza that actually makes decisions for the department. And the murderer must have realized his mistake, because Eliza's suddenly a target.

Toss in a tragic family history, an absent mother in Botswana, and a sister working for the Department of Homeland Security and stealing the family spotlight ... and Eliza can barely hold her life together at a level of normalcy. She's certainly not equipped to be solving murders. As she argues, "I'm not a detective. I'm a mystery editor. I don't know whodunit until I read the last pages of a manuscript."

But when the editor of the local newspaper's Book Section becomes more than just a professional acquaintance, their growing passion urges Eliza to overcome her past and her passivity to find the author-turned-murderer before she is pegged with the crime or, worse yet, before she — or someone she loves — becomes the next victim.