Lady Abigail Worthing discovers a body on her property: the victim is Juliet, the wife of her neighbor, Stapleton Henderson. She expects to be under suspicion: Abigail's skin color and her mother's notorious past have earned her a certain reputation among the ton, and no amount of wealth or status will eclipse it. Abigail was attending a secret pro-abolition meeting at the time of the murder, but to her surprise Henderson offers her an alibi. Abigail, whose marriage to Lord Worthing was not a love match, knows well how appearances can deceive. Yet who in their circle would have killed Juliet, and why?