Beck O’Rourke and her grandmother own Beach Reads bookstore and coffee shop, a gathering place for locals and tourists, a block off the ocean in Manatee Beach, Florida.

They live above the bookstore with Beck’s feisty younger sister, Lizzie, a lifeguard. Beck is excited to host the country’s bestselling cozy mystery writer for a book signing event until a member of the audience turns up dead later that night.

Afterward, Beck decides to pursue her lifelong dream of being a detective to try to catch the killer. The amateur sleuth finds several suspects, but the murderer isn’t happy about her interference.

Neither is the town’s handsome new police detective who has a history with Beck.