When Faye Underwood, a distraught young woman, disappears from the elegant Ocean Forest Hotel, Feltus Boone LaMont, the quintessential Southern hotel detective, is drawn into the emotional drama surrounding the guests. As Feltus conducts his investigation into Faye's apparent murder, her husband, Terence, is found murdered in their suite-with the door locked from the inside. This draws Feltus further into the intriguing web surrounding the Underwoods and their acquaintances-Lord and Lady Ashburn (a British couple on holiday), Ms. Elizabeth Bascomb (a blind clairvoyant), and Preacher Cooper (a devout man of the cloth). The intricate plot that stretches from Myrtle Beach to the battlefields of World War II unfolds as a very persistent Feltus eventually uncovers the skeletons in the closets of all his guests.