Beatrice Steele has never fit the definition of a true lady, according to the strict code of conduct that reigns in Swampshire, her small English township. Nevertheless, she lives a perfectly agreeable life with her marriage-scheming mother, prankster father and two younger sisters --- beautiful Louisa and forgettable Mary. But she harbors a dark secret: She is obsessed with the true crime cases she reads about in the newspaper. Eligible bachelor Edmund Croaksworth is set to attend the approaching autumnal ball, and the Steele family hopes that Louisa will steal his heart. However, when Croaksworth drops dead in the middle of a minuet, the evening descends into a frenzy of panic, fear and betrayal as it becomes clear they are trapped with a killer.