J.P. Beaumont's teenaged daughter Kelly has run off--and her trail ends at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. But in addition to his headstrong offspring, there's another surprise waiting backstage for the sober-but-struggling sleuth: the corpse of a sleazy rival p.i., apparently slain by the Festival's current "Juliet." Beau has his doubts about the young actress' guilt, especially when the investigation's Second Act opens with another body and a hint of kiddie porn. And his suspicions are leaving Beaumont vulnerably center stage in a modern-day tragedy of revenge, deception. . .and murder.