Ballantyne Foundation Director and PI-in-training, Elliott Lisbon, is enjoying her idyllically slow life on Sea Pine Island, South Carolina. It’s the week before the annual Beach Ball and she’s sipping Bellinis on the sidelines. Her committee involvement is limited to securing the centerpieces: scrumptious two-tiered masterpieces from the Cake & Shake. But when the head baker (and owner’s maid of honor) goes missing, Elli’s calm life gets a major shakeup. She takes the case and soon learns that missing is a relative term.

These two bffs were once rivals on a local dating show. Perhaps the free spirit had reason to wander off on her own. Or perhaps she wasn’t the only woman scorned. As Elli walks the delicate line between a woman finding herself and a woman needing to be found, the days speed up and she knows something’s about to go down. From drug runners to whistleblowers to sea turtle sabotage, Elli stirs up secrets and inadvertently whips a desperate killer into a frenzy. If she doesn’t find a way out of the heat, she’s going to get burned.