Maude Haavik is excited to host a pumpkin-carving party for her friends and neighbors a couple weeks before Halloween. A newcomer in her Ballard neighborhood, Percy Baker, collapses at the end of the evening and ends up dead a few hours later. The police suspect murder. Percy had made many enemies during his decades at his family's property development company, and some of those enemies were at Maude's party. With the help of friends and the moral support of her two dogs, Maude helps the Seattle police solve the murder.