PhD candidate Phoebe Walsh has always been obsessed with true crime. She's even analysing the genre in her dissertation - if she can manage to finish writing it. It's hard to find the time while she spends the summer in Florida, cleaning out her childhood home, dealing with her obnoxiously good-natured younger brother, and grappling with the complicated feelings of mourning a father she hadn't had a relationship with for years.
It doesn't help that she's low-key convinced that her new neighbour, Sam Dennings, is a serial killer (he may dress business casual by day, but at night he's clearly up to something). But it's not long before Phoebe realises that Sam might be something much scarier - a genuinely nice guy who can pierce her armour to reach her vulnerable heart.