Set in New York City, Catriona Benedict is a down on her luck theatre actress, with an Italian immigrant boyfriend Mario Montefiore, a cramped apartment on the Lower East Side and a theatre show off Broadway that is cancelled after a week because of poor ticket sales. She is approached by the charismatic Miles Kingston, a wealthy Park Avenue business. He offers her ten thousand dollars to pose as his wife. Miles will only gain his full inheritance if he abandons his playboy lifestyle and marries by the age of forty. Catriona disenchanted with her life Off Broadway and eager to pay off Mario's debts to a violent loan shark, accepts Miles' offer.

At a party at the Stork Club to welcome her into the Kingston family, Catriona meets Grace, Mile's hostile cousin with links to the art world; Freddie Swann, a society photographer being sued by Miles; Rupert Ward, Miles' valet who nurses a terrible grudge against the Kingston family; Louis Ferrero, an Italian casino boss with links to the mafia. All of them, including Catriona herself, become suspects in a murder investigation, when Miles is suddenly poisoned by cyanide during a champagne midnight toast to the bride and groom.

To make matters worse, Catriona finds that the mafia is after her to pay Miles' gambling debts and someone is trying to kill her. This is a stylish murder mystery thriller with surprising twists and revelations, featuring a host of memorable characters.