It’s November 1934. Post-Prohibition lingers like a hangover in New York City as famous gangsters fight for headlines with local criminals, Broadway shows, and society sinners.

Amid the glitz and glamour, a man lies dead on the floor of a swanky Upper East Side apartment as his injured pregnant wife hides nearby. Private detective Graydon Chase and his new fiancé, playwright Esmé de LaForet, are called in by the family to keep the scandal at bay. But there’s no keeping this crime quiet, as playwright and playboy pursue a crooked path to untangle multiple would-be killers, with more than enough motives to go around.

Complications abound when Graydon’s aristocratic English parents invite themselves to Esmé’s place for that most American holiday—Thanksgiving. Over the turkey and stuffing, Graydon’s oh-so-upper-crust father itches to involve himself in the investigation (despite his prejudice against his son’s fiancé as a “woman of the theatre”), and a local mobster trying to go legit wades into the thick of it, bringing vital information on the murder.