Neal Humphrey, a lonely bartender, stumbles over a dead body one night at the Pearl Motel with a beautiful out-of-towner. The dead man is Humphrey's new landlord, Tedd Archer, savagely shot in his pinstripe pajamas. Inspired by his mother's fascination with classic crime fiction and fearing he will be suspected for an argument with Tedd before his death, Humphrey sets out to find the murderer among Pearl's plain Jane townsfolk and peculiar motel guests. He expects that unraveling the truth from the small-town gossip will be nearly impossible, especially when everyone seemed to dislike Tedd. But what Humphrey doesn't expect to find is a missing novel worth a small fortune, his photographer frenemy being blackmailed for past sins, and a big-city detective hot on his heels.