Who killed Liza Nichols? Was it her fiancé, the would-be senator with a shocking secret to hide? Or the senator’s mother, a society matron determined to find the best of everything—including a wife—for her son? Who was the intended recipient of the Winnie-the-Pooh necklace Liza had purchased before her death? And, most important, what was the secret that had cost Liza her life?

When the beautiful Liza Nichols knocks on Amanda Pepper’s front door early one Monday morning, she throws the schoolteacher’s comfortable routine wildly awry. When Amanda arrives home from school later that day, she discovers Liza’s lifeless body slumped on the floor. To make matters worse, Amanda is named the primary murder suspect. In a desperate effort to clear her name, Amanda joins forces with the handsome detective assigned to the case, giving him advice and doing some unofficial snooping of her town.