Spring in Tinker's Cove, Maine, finds local reporter Lucy Stone wishing she were digging in her garden instead of languishing in her office at the Pennysaver newspaper. But flowerbeds will have to wait when Mother's Day rings in a feud between two neighborhood moms-and the fallout is fatal...

Two of her four kids may be out of the nest, but Lucy knows only too well that mothering is a lifetime commitment. At least she gets to kick back and enjoy a fancy Mother's Day brunch with her brood-that is, before the festivities are interrupted by a nasty scene courtesy of Barbara Hume and Tina Nowak. Opposites in every way, the only thing these mean moms have in common is the need to best each other at every turn, using their teenage daughters as pawns in elaborate games of one-upsmanship...

The hostilities only escalate when Bar and Tina team up to host an after-prom party for local teens. Lucy-persuaded to participate so she can keep an eye on her own daughter, Sara-has a front row seat for the fireworks. But even after witnessing the women's claw sharpening rituals, she never expects to see actual blood spilled-until Tina is shot dead on the public tennis court, right in front of Lucy.

Having witnessed Tina's death, Lucy naturally expects to cover it for the Pennysaver, but when her boss snatches the story, she's relegated to backing him up instead of taking the lead. It's an exercise in frustration, especially since Lucy can shake neither the image of Tina's last moments nor the suspicion that the evidence against prime suspect Bar isn't as cut and dried as it seems...

Lucy is determined to unravel the close-knit knot of suspects, even if she doesn't get the byline. But when the threads threaten to entangle one of her own, Lucy will come face-to-face with a killer who has a thing or two to learn about motherly love...