Be careful what you wish for.
It drives Nicholas Harlow nuts that his employer and brother, Edward Harlow, refuses to promote his Aunt Civility etiquette books to the public, instead opting to give lectures to like-minded societies. When Nicholas tricks his brother into a speaking event at a popular bookstore, the attendees include Edward’s former college English professor – a smarmy Lothario with his own book to hawk. Then the professor dies in a spectacularly public manner, and his last act is to point an accusatory finger at his former student.
When Edward is brought in for questioning in front of the local paper’s star reporter, Nicholas adds damage control to a growing list of responsibilities that includes pegging the appropriate party for murder. But when he develops feelings for one of the suspects that no respectable sleuth should have, the investigation jumps off the rails. Unfortunately, the killer remains on course, and it’s only a matter of time before the brothers must make hard decisions in order to deliver justice.