g, retired bureaucrat Chris Landrum would like nothing more than for his least favorite holiday to skip his adopted hometown of Folly Beach, South Carolina. The hopes of a quiet October drifts away on the tide when Chris's friend, Charles Fowler, stumbles upon the dead body of a curiously dressed woman with a hatchet firmly placed in her back.

Along with a former successful stock market analyst, the keyword being former and an obnoxious ex-Marine, Chris is dragged into helping Charles search for the killer. A masquerade party unlike anything the beach town has seen brings out a hodgepodge of suspects and potential victims, all hiding behind masks. The amateur detectives must find the killer or killers before the dreaded spooky holiday becomes their last.