J.P. Beaumont's teenaged daughter Kelly has run off - and her tracks have led the sober-but-struggling sleuth to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. But in addition to one very headstrong offspring, there is something else waiting for Beau: a case of cold-blooded murder. The victim is an acquaintance, a sleazy, rival private eye, brutally butchered, supposedly by the Festival's current young Juliet...though Beau has his doubts. But the Second Act is about to open with a second corpse and a touch of kiddie porn - leaving Beau center-stage in a heart stopping tragedy of revenge, deception and death.