If your name translates to "pretty nice" in French, you've probably gotten used to teasing. It doesn't prepare you to find out that your soon-to-be-ex-husband has a gambling problem, raided your assets, and embezzled from his bank. Jolie Gentil moves to Great Aunt Madge's Jersey shore B&B, taking her cat Jazz, and joining Madge's pair of prune-eating dogs. She tells herself it's not a retreat, just a smart change. Jolie rekindles friendships, dodges a low-level wise guy, and tries to figure out her new life. She hasn't seen her high school classmates in ten years, and they weren't all buds. Why care if a couple of them are murder suspects? Because finding a dead body when you're appraising a house grabs your attention.

Jolie balances fear of a smart-mouth wise guy with a belief that her friends are innocent. Her murder suspects include one suspect's ex-wife and beneficiaries of the dead woman's will. Jolie keeps searching, but will someone's plans leave her alive to find the truth?