It's nearly New Year's Eve and genealogist Lucy Lancaster is ready to mix work and play at the beautiful Hotel Sutton. In Lucy's sophomore outing (after Murder Once Removed), however, a man staggers toward her, presses a classic Montblanc pen onto her hand, gasps, "Keep them safe," and collapses, dead. Not only does Lucy's Grandpa recognize the Montblanc, he also reveals that he was an Allied spy during the war and the pen is the key to reading a microdot left by the dead man. Someone is decoding a list and targeting anyone whose name is found there—including that of her Grandpa—so Lucy may have to hurry before her own family line dies out.