Jillian Green thinks this family reunion is going to be a piece of cake. Annette Hollingsworth, the fashionable wife of mega-rich magnate Daniel Hollingsworth, has contracted the Chocolate Shoppe Bakery to cater the affair. The evening moves from mundane to horrifying when Jillian finds Duncan Tipton, the unpleasant president of the mining operation, murdered in the Hollingsworths' home. The mystery surrounding the death is complicated by the unsolved disappearance of the previous company president ten years ago. Annette begs Jillian to get involved while Deputy Gooder Jones, smarting from town gossip that he can't do his job without Jillian's help, insists that she stay out of the investigation. When another Tipton turns up dead, Jillian begins to feel raked over the coals. Can Jillian find the mother lode, or will she end up the sacrificial canary of Tipton Coal?