Set at the turn of the century, in Newport, Rhode Island, Death on the Cliff Walk introduces debutante Brooke Cassidy, who teams up with local cop, Matt Devlin, to solve a murder that reaches to the heart of Newport's glittering high society.

Recently married to her crime-solving partner, Detective Sergeant Matt Devlin, onetime debutante Brooke looks forward to her new life in Manhattan. But first her wealthy aunt insists that the Devlins have a proper honeymoon. The newlyweds find themselves sailing toward an idyllic month in England, ensconced in a suite deluxe aboard the majestic liner S.S. New York, a virtual floating city. They savor all the pleasures of a luxurious ocean cruise circa 1897... until their honeymoon is interrupted by the disappearance of a prominent financier. No less a personage than distinguished banker and fellow passenger J.P. Morgan insists that Matt investigate. It is 1897 and newlyweds Brooke and Matt Devlin are relaxing aboard the S.S. New York, when fellow passenger J.P. Morgan asks the crime-solving duo to investigate the disappearance of another prominent financier. With a full register of high-society suspects, Brooke and Matt must sort out a tangled web of perplexing clues and misleading motives before they can force a devilishly clever killer to pay the full fare for murder.

Several valuable paintings have been stolen from the prestigious Manhattan Museum of Art—and the curator has been murdered. Brook and Matt Devlin, just back from their honeymoon cruise, take on this complex case of murder and mayhem in 19th-century New York. As they race to untangle a complex web of contradictory evidence and concealed motives, they find themselves at dangerous odds with each other—as well as with a calculating killer poised to conclude their investigation with a masterful finishing stroke.