When the mysterious letter arrives by courier, Valerie Cooper doesnât know what to make of it. Sheâs become the beneficiary of her late husbandâs estranged uncleâs willâa man she never knewâand inherited a majority partnership in the familyâs company, New Orleans Fine Antiques. Valerie knows nothing about antiques, but she decides to learn the business and become an active partner. Sheâs also got her hands full fending off Collette, a woman who wants to sell the huge old house in the Irish Channel neighborhood that Valerie and her husband painstakingly renovated. Valerie isnât interested in sellingâbut when her best friend, Lauren, drags her to a costume party for the womenâs Mardi Gras club, the Krewe of Athena, she stumbles over Colletteâs body, a jeweled dagger sticking out of her chest. In a rush of panic, Valerie recognizes the dagger from her shopâand before she knows it, sheâs become murder suspect number one. Egged on by Lauren, she starts digging into Colletteâs business dealings, and the deeper she digs, the dirtier it gets. Now all fingers are pointing at Valerie. In a desperate bid to clear her name, Valerie frantically tries to find who could have gotten hold of the dagger. But among a cadre of guests in full costume, it could be impossible to find the thiefâand unmask the real killer.