Fred didn’t show for the fiesta lunch special on Wednesday at the Arbor Vale Café. Why not? He’d called to say he had something to tell her. So Zita Stillman drops by his house to hear him out. Fred had been such a good friend to her late husband. But Fred lies, lifeless, by the wood pile.So begins Zita’s first murder investigation with her lifelong sidekick Zinnia Blossom Winwood and the distraction of the good-looking Max Knight, successful condo builder. Attacked by a clown, run off the road, and warned off by the police, Zita will not let Fred’s murderer get off scot-free. But another mystery, the facts surrounding Zita’s parentage and birth also may come to light.

Another murder? A treasure hunt? What next? Zita Stillman and her lifelong friend Zinnia Blossom Winwood become embroiled yet again in the unexpected events in the small town of Arbor Vale, Wisconsin. Another mysterious guest at Zita’s bed-and-breakfast? A gruesome discovery in the attic of the Arbor Vale Hotel? And what about Pearl and Ruby, the two “eccentric” sisters who live there?What do they think of Zita recently inheriting their lifelong home—a home that comes with a history of ladies of the evening, gangsters and bootleggers? What next indeed?

An old disappearance and murder bobs to the surface and into Zita’s life. Are the police and community wondering if her son and deceased husband were involved? Zita already has enough to be concerned about with the opening of her hotel, participating in the annual Penny Parade, her son’s marital problems, and the snoopy reporter who has moved into her bed-and-breakfast. All this, while problems with the Torkels continue to escalate.