Eliza Carlisle has the unwanted talent of attracting trouble, in all its forms. That couldn’t be truer than when she moves into the most bizarre apartment building on the planet. Weekly required dinners with the landlord and assigned chores are bad enough, but the rules don’t end there. Top most on the list of requirements is NO physical violence against the others residents. There have been issues. In the past. The young manager, Sonya, claims that hasn’t been a problem recently, but Eliza comes home from her first day of culinary school to find a dead resident, her next door neighbor looking good for the crime, and a cop that seems more interested in harassing her than solving the case. All Eliza wanted was to escape her past and start over, completely anonymous in a big city. That’s not going to be so easy when the killer thinks she’s made off with a valuable piece of evidence everyone is trying to get their hands on. The ultimatum that she turn it over to save her own life creates a small problem. Eliza has no idea what the killer wants, or where the mysterious object might be. If she can’t uncover a decades old mystery in time, surviving culinary school will be the least of her problems.

In the year and a half since James’ death, Hugh DeFry has worked nonstop to avoid having to face life without him. His driven focus has landed him a spot on the upcoming season of a top rated culinary competition show, but hasn’t helped him deal with his grief. Escaping New York for the West Coast is a start, though, until a friend calls to beg for a small favor. Cover her classes at the culinary institute where she teaches while she goes home to deal with a family emergency. Sounds simple enough. Hugh has covered for her before and it gets him out of the apartment he can’t stand being in without James. There’s just one caveat. There’s this girl, one who might need a little help and encouragement, Lauren tells him. No big deal. Except looking after Eliza Carlisle is about as easy as bathing a cat. Sweet, but naïve, Eliza’s efforts to help her friend and fellow culinary student leads everyone around her into a missing person’s case that quickly spirals from hoping the girl missed her flight to untangling an international web of crime. Hugh isn’t sure he can keep her safe, but he’s positive he can’t keep her from getting into trouble.