Holly Hillbay considers herself a darned good private investigator, no matter what her ex-fiancé, Brad the Cad, thinks. Her latest case involves going undercover in a Tuesday evening book club at the Books on the Beach bookstore in Goleta, California. Her client wants to prove that his wife, Tanya, is having an affair with the very sexy, extremely handsome owner of the store, Wes Brockman. However, Holly soon learns that Tanya is interested in another male member of the book club, Cullen, as are several other women in the group. When Cullen ends up dead in the club meeting room of the bookstore, the police seem eager to pin the crime on Wes, but Holly is not so sure they're right. As much as she'd like to believe that the hunky Wes is guilty, the facts just don't fit.

Holly soon finds herself hired by Wes to prove his innocence and to find out who really murdered Cullen. However, Wes insists on being in on the investigation, which doesn't sit well with Holly. It's not just that she's a loner, but Wes makes her libido shift into hot overdrive, and mixing business and pleasure is never a good idea. Holly soon discovers that Wes is hiding something from his past that he doesn't want uncovered. To complicate matters further, he's trying to figure out what caused her to be so tough and determined.

With a large cast of characters adding many layers and twists to the plot, it's not an easy job keeping track of all the possible motives or probable culprits. Jennifer Apodaca, best known for her Samantha Shaw mystery series, enters the contemporary romance arena with an interesting whodunit filled with fun characters.