Murder, mayhem, mystery--the St. Alice Hotel is shaping up to be more than a summer job for Charlotte. It's 1908, and 16-year-old Charlotte O'Dell is forced to move from Victoria to Harrison Hot Springs to live and work at the St. Alice Hotel in order to make enough money to finish school. Between organizing a women's march in support of the suffragettes, and memorizing all there is to know about her new profession in The Up-to-Date Waitress, Charlotte befriends one of the hot springs regulars, Mr. Doyle, and quickly learns about his tumultuous past with a boy he saw as a son, Henry. Determined to fix their relationship, she is ecstatic when all seems forgiven. But when Mr Doyle is found dead, her summer plans take a turn when she is arrested for the crime.