Trouble always seems to find Amanda Pennyworth, the American consul to the resort city of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. On a romantic outing to a secluded cove along the Mexican coast, where the beautiful Danielle Maglin is found bludgeoned to death and the at an elegant dinner party thousands of miles away only days later with the killer surely present, Amanda finds herself drawn into the search to find the culprit's identity. When Danielle's close friend, Terrence Blanchard is found dead from an apparent suicide, Amanda is convinced that the killer has struck again. But there are too many possible suspects and just the usual list of motives: jealousy, greed, sex, money, and hatred. Nothing seems to make sense. Working the the police, first in Mexico, and then in the United States, Amanda is sure that the killer was among the group of friends from a small town near Chicago, on an excursion to Puerto Vallarta. But which one? The police are stymied and it's up to Amanda to find out why Danielle and Terrence had to die.