In the shared bathroom between her hardware store and the next door boutique Dawna Carpenter discovers the dead body of Warren Highcastle. Because the police close the hardware store - and the neighbouring boutique - until further notice to do a crime scene investigation, Dawna has some time on her hand to do her own investigation.

Started out as classic cozy. But sadly could not keep this up. Overall, there’s more attention to the mother-daughter relationship between Dawna and April than there is to the mystery. There are only two people considered as suspects - not counting friend Bill. A third person is considered, but they don’t know who that is, so in fiction, he’s not likely to be the murderer.

The police chief came off as sort of competent - at least in the eyes of Dawna - until he arrested one of her friends. He read the man his rights - right to remain silent, right to an attorney - and then gets annoyed his arrestee keeps his mouth closed when asked question. What does he think “right to remain silent” means?

Later the police chief tells Darlene, owner of the boutique, off for not immediately responding to the alarm in her shop going off: Had you called right away, we might have caught the person who killed Steve, Miss Lovelace, or even saved his life. To which Darlene had no response.

Her response should have been: “Or I could have been killed right along with him.”