As a balmy and leisurely summer at their beach house draws to a close, Clara, Sadd, and the rest of the Gamadge family savor the tang of salt air and the squish of sand between their toes. Their blissful tranquillity is shattered, however, when Armand Evers, a man whom Clara and Sadd knew in their youth, suddenly reappears after forty years with a strange tale to tell and a prediction of his own murder.

Evers' story is clouded with shadows from the past and is full of family intrigues and hints of illegitimate heirs. When his prophecy is tragically fulfilled and he is found dead in a New York City hotel, Clara and company find themselves reluctantly drawn into a tangled web of stolen inheritances and switched identities. Was the dead man Armand, or was it his nearly identical cousin, the unstable and spendthrift Boyd? When Rachael, another member of the Evers' clan and a dear friend of Clara's, is also threatened, Clara flies to Ireland to catch a rogue. But as she investigates, she begins to suspect the murderer is not working alone and fears that the accomplice is closer to home.

Clara must play a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the killer until she can force him to reveal his hand - and she must do it before another old friend dies.