Reluctant investigator Stanley Hastings is stranded at the Blue Frog Ponds Inn, a trendy New England bed-and-breakfast, where he is vacationing with his wife, Alice. Their cheerless room with its paper-thin walls, no TV, and a blue cartoon frog on the door is doing little for Stanley's spirits and less for his libido. And to top it all, someone has started bumping off the guests. When the first murder happens practically under Stanley's nose, Stanley finds himself a key witness, if not a prime suspect, in the bristly local police chief Pinehurst's case. And Stanley has only his wits, his wife, and a striped orange cat to help him catch a killer before the culprit strikes uncozily close to home.