The popular game show "Celebrity Circle" is something of a graveyard for show-biz mediocrities, so Tobin, the five-foot-five movie critic with the fiery hair and the equally fiery temper, is less than thrilled to accept a guest stint as the show films a week's worth of broadcasts aboard an ocean liner. But Tobin's career has hit the skids since he solved his TV partner's murder (Murder on the Aisle, 1987); money is money, and besides, he gets a free cruise in the bargain.

But someone on board has more in mind than fabulous prizes, and Ken Norris, the smarmy emcee of "Celebrity Circle," turns up with a knife in his back. The Captain blames Cindy McBain, the young secretary from Kansas City in whose room the victim's body was discovered. Although Tobin finds her wearing nothing but a robe covered in Norris' blood, he thinks she is innocent, if less than pure—and he swears his belief has nothing to do with her incredible body or her enthusiastically expressed affection for celebrities.