The new seaside resort of Hemlock Bay offers something for everyone. For families, it's the ideal summertime playground for kids and parents alike. For artists, the seascapes are peerless. For swindlers and blackmailers, it's the perfect place to craft a new identity. And for murderers? That's what Rachel Savernake, the enigmatic heiress and brilliant amateur sleuth, is about to discover. When crime-beat journalist Jacob Flint receives a visit from a fortune teller who insists he's had a vision of a murder soon to occur in Hemlock Bay, Jacob consults with Rachel to get her take on the man's outlandish claim. Rachel is so intrigued, she rents a cottage at the seaside resort where an artist she admires also happens to be spending the summer. Meanwhile, mild-mannered accountant Basil Palmer is en route to Hemlock Bay, determined to murder a man he's never met—a man he holds responsible for his beloved wife's death six months prior. Could this be the murder foretold by the fortune teller?