The dowager duchess of Palm Beach dies, leaving behind a fabulous fortune and a handsome young heir-though Archy McNally has his doubts about the boy's bona fides.

When a young waiter working Malcolm "Nifty" MacNiff's annual Tennis Everyone! benefit is found dead in Nifty's otherwise pristine swimming pool, it's Archy McNally, South Florida's most famous Discreet Inquirer, who rushes in to salvage the town's reputation and solve the un-fortunate crime. Palm Beach is already in a tizzy over the arrival of its newest millionaire, Lance Talbot, just in from Switzerland to claim his inheritance after the demise of his grandmother.

There are those who believe Lance an imposter, and who he is-and was-becomes more of an enigma as Archy traces Lance's progress from the snowy Alps to the sands of Palm Beach. If he isn't the true heir, who is he? And who is the alluring Baroness Holga von Brecht, who is old enough to be his mother but claims to be his lover? When an old school chum of Holga's is made redundant, Archy must make some daring choices to snare a double murderer.