The skeleton of Edward Stevenson, an established artist, is found with a shotgun and a suicide note in the basement of a family home in Vermont. Stevenson had told his family he had a terminal illness and was going to Nepal to seek an alternative way of life. When it comes to light that Stevenson had no such illness, suspicions turn to the art gallery who represented him. Just days after the discovery of Stevenson's body, Patrick Merriam, the owner, finds Frank Compton, his partner, dead in an apparent suicide. The police are called in and as the investigation develops, it becomes a murder enquiry. Yet again Sam finds her loyalties tested - this time between her university friend, Patrick Merriam, and her current partner who is leading the investigation.