When a woman Clark Thomas has never seen before sits down across from him in his bookstore, she gives him an invitation to dinner . . . and murder.

He takes the beautiful stranger up on her offer. Her father is the host. He is a retired Hollywood music composer and lover of puzzles. What Clark doesn't know is that someone wants the host dead, and the host wants Clark to figure out who before it's too late.

But a storm is coming that disrupts the dinner party and ends with murder at an oceanfront mansion on one of the most prime stretches of Myrtle Beach. The host leaves hints about who had a motive to perform the deed. When the fingers point at Clark, he has to unravel the clues while the guests dig out from the storm damage that leaves them cut off from the outside. It turns out that the cavernous home has its own secrets.

Clark finds everyone had a motive to kill the host, but only one could have done it.

Along the way, he learns more about his wife's death, but with every answer, more staggering questions arise.