Be careful what you wish for!
It drives Nicholas Harlow crazy that his brother, Edward, author of the Aunt Civility etiquette books, disdains publicity, instead opting to give private lectures to like-minded societies.
When Nicholas tricks his brother into a public speaking event, the attendees include Edward's former college English professor - a smarmy Lotherio with his own book to hawk. Then the professor dies in a spectacularly public manner, and his last act is to point an accusatory finger at his former student.
As evidence against Edward mounts, so does trouble in the form of the author's girlfriend and her crazy aunt; a shapely suspect who triggers Nicholas's hero instincts; and a group of neighbors with something to hide. It seems the brothers will never find the solution, at least not before the killer strikes again.