Lights! Camera! Murder? After an exhausting European sojourn involving an onboard caper and Hollywood’s latest “It Girl,” Ruby Ray wants nothing more than to settle back into her comfortable practice as an inquiry agent in Fullerton and, hopefully, pick up where she left off with a charming physician. But fate has other plans as she receives an invitation to spend a week on the halcyon shores of Laguna Beach during the final days of August, 1930. No sooner do her toes hit the sand than she discovers that Stardust Productions has overrun the tranquil town to film a major motion picture. Moreover, a shadowy menace threatens their leading lady, prompting the studio to turn to Ruby Ray for help. In a race against the clock, Ruby’s investigation takes her up and down the coast—from idyllic coves and the newly opened Hotel Laguna to a cliff-top mansion owned by celebrity aviatrix Pancho Barnes, the stunt pilot who recently shattered Amelia Earhart’s air speed record. Yet, as one misfortune after another befalls the cast, Ruby feels out of her depth and begins to question whether she can unravel the clues and unmask the specter before another life sinks into oblivion.