Every year, on January 19th, the grave of Edgar Allan Poe in Baltimore, is visited by the Poe Toaster, who leaves three red roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac. He has remained anonymous for fifty years, but early one January, Tess is asked to find out his identity. She goes to the January 19th vigil and is as surprised as the other spectators when two cloaked figures approach the grave. There is a gunshot and one is killed. Tess learns that the dead man is not the real Poe Toaster. So who is he? And why was he there?