After Jane's last brush with a murderer landed her with a feature in People magazine, she is eager to get back to her literary life as a book agent—reading book proposals, making deals, talking to authors. She's glad to put fame aside and now that her beloved son Nick's birthday is coming up, she's busy planning a birthday party for him.



She selects one of her favorite spots, a local inn, but before anyone can sing Happy Birthday and say 'make a wish,' the body of a young woman is found hanging from a tree in the woods back behind the inn.



No one seems to know who she is, but she has been murdered.



Found near the body is a clipping of the People magazine article about Jane, the only clue. Why did this woman have it? What does it have to do with her murder? And why was she so interested in Jane and her neighbors?



The mystery deepens as more people start to die in Shady Hills while Jane and her detective friend hunt as fast as they can for clues as to the identity of the mystery women—and of the killer on the loose.