June 1926, New York City

Records are the wave of the future, and jazz singer Lizzie Crane intends to use this new medium to gain fame and fortune in the music world. When Jim Jenkins, owner of Jupiter Records and a close family friend of Lizzie's saxophonist, invites her and her bandmates to make a record with his company, it seems like a dream come true. But before they can sign a contract, Jenkins dies from an overdose of mercury bichloride, a drug used to treat syphilis.

As Lizzie begins looking into the record producer's surprising death, she suspects it may not have been an accident. Jenkins cheated some of the artists who recorded with him and made enemies with other people in the music business, including the head of New York's top radio station KDAZ. Furthermore, rumors suggest Jenkins had a secret paramour, and his jealous wife might have poisoned him.

When Lizzie starts getting threatening letters, and someone breaks into her apartment, her quest for the truth becomes increasingly personal--and dangerous. The deeper she delves into the mystery, the more she realizes she can't trust anyone, not even her friends.