When the author of the controversial Hudson and Holmes mystery series comes to their bookshop for a book signing and winds up dead, owners Gemma Doyle and Jayne Wilson must clear the name of one of their patrons and deduce the real killer.
After Gemma helps a little girl find her lost cat, the child returns seeking further assistance when her mother is accused of killing her garden club rival.
Gemma and Jayne donate their time to raise money for the rebuilding of a burned-out museum, but the murder of museum board chair Kathy Lamb places a fellow shopkeeper under suspicion, and Gemma becomes entangled in the investigation.