When the mysterious letter arrives by courier, Valerie Cooper doesn't know what to make of it. She's become the beneficiary of her late husband's estranged uncle's will - a man she never knew - and inherited a majority partnership in the family's company, New Orleans Fine Antiques. When a wealthy local businesswoman is found dead with a jewelled dagger sticking out of her chest at a masquerade, Valerie is pushed into investigating Collette's business...