Mystery bookstore owner Annie Laurance didn't really want to go to her neighbor's Valentine Day masked ball- particulary not after the voluptuous brunette made a pass at Annie's husband, Max. So when her dizzy mother-in-law, Laurel, made a surprise visit to Broward's Rock Island, Annie thought it would be a perfect excuse to skip the party. She sould have known better: True to form, Laurel accepted the invitation for all three of them. But the biggest surprise of all came at the party's end, when Annie found the amorous hostess in the gazebo- murdered.

The killer had to be one of the guests or neighbors- but who? Was it the victim's husband, who'd caught her in the arms of another guest? Or her embittered stepson? Perhaps it was her randy guest, or the puritanical general who'd caused a scene at the ball. But even Annie, who'd seen her share of murders and read about plenty more, was shocked when the officious prosecutor arrested his prime suspect: the new widower's very smitten lady friend- Max's own spacey mom!