Seville, Indiana, has five traffic lights and one interior design firm: Designer Jeans, co-founded by Jean Hastings and her daughter, Jean Jr.  Lately they’re finding that the keen eyes needed for plotting color schemes and tracking down flea-market treasures also come in handy for interpreting more sinister designs.

Although Jean is a designing woman, her business is in a bit of a slump. So when a new interior design job from Dona Deville comes her way she’s delighted.  Dona has inherited an abandoned country cottage and wants Jean to take it from plain old shabby to gorgeous shabby chic.

But Jean's plans for hurricane lamps and hand-hooked rugs are shelved when she opens the front door and discovers the well-heeled shoes of Dona herself, who has unfortunately been sent to meet her maker.  Now Jean must piece together a pattern of a different sort in order to catch a killer with designs on murder.