On the day she died, Constance Young was the undisputed star of morning television. But her plans to move herself and her loyal audience to another network were cancelled when she ended up at the bottom of her swimming pool. And the fabled unicorn amulet that Constance had been wearing during her final hours—a gift from King Arthur to his beloved Guinevere and the centerpiece of the upcoming Camelot exhibit at New York's Cloisters museum—is missing.

A morning show veteran and now anchor of the KEY Evening Headlines, Eliza Blake is shocked by the death of her former colleague, and is determined to discover who wanted Constance out of the way . . . and why. To do so, she enlists the aid of three KEY News coworkers: "Jane-of-all-trades" Annabelle Murphy, who can switch from producing to sleuthing at a moment's notice; charming and fearless cameraman extraordinaire B.J. D'Elia to add brains, brawn, and a much-needed male perspective to the team; and Dr. Margo Gonzalez, on-air psychiatrist, who understands the complex puzzles of the human mind. Calling themselves "The Sunrise Suspense Society," they set out to get to the bottom of the heinous murder, in a case that will test their ingenuity and their courage to the very limits.

The deeper they dig, the more twisted the trail to Constance's killer becomes—as the list of suspects grows longer by the minute. Was it her spurned and enraged medievalist lover, or a muckraking author who blamed her for ruining her life? Perhaps money was the motive, and Constance's sister, jealous of her wealth and fame, was responsible. Or possibly someone at Key News was angry enough—or frightened enough—to commit cold-blooded murder. The one sure thing is that Constance Young made a lot of enemies—and now one of them is Eliza's enemy as well. And the closer she and the Society get to unmasking the murderer, the closer they each get to dying, suddenly . . . and brutally.

Breakfast eaten. Teeth brushed. Hair clipped. Shoes tied. Sweater buttoned.

As she hustled Janie out to the garage, Eliza picked up her daughter's backpack. "Anything in here I should see?" Eliza asked.

Janie's blank expression prompted Eliza to unzip the nylon bag. She pulled out a yellow sheet of paper.

"Oh, yeah. You need to fill that out, Mommy," said Janie. "It's for the picnic."

Eliza scanned the notice. The first-grade family picnic was coming up in a few weeks to celebrate the end of the school year.

"This sounds like fun, sweetheart," said Eliza as she grabbed a pen from the kitchen counter. "Should we ask Kay Kay and Poppy if they want to come?"

Janie shook her head, a solemn expression on her face. "No, Mommy. Mrs. Ansley says no grandparents or friends. It's only for parents and children."

Thanks, Mrs. Ansley, thought Eliza. Thanks a lot. "I'm sure if I asked Mrs. Ansley, she'd let us bring Kay Kay and Poppy and even Mrs. Garcia," said Eliza.

Janie shook her head. "Uh-uh. Mrs. Ansley says there's not enough room, and she can't make any 'ceptions."

"Exceptions," Eliza corrected.

"Exceptions," repeated Janie. "Mrs. Ansley says, 'No exceptions.'"

Eliza didn't want to hear any more about what Mrs. Ansley had to say. She took the pen and signed her name to the form, filling in the appropriate information.

One child. One adult.

There were just two in the Blake family eligible to attend the first-grade picnic.

Eliza hurried back to the house after dropping Janie off. She poured a second cup of coffee and positioned herself in front of the kitchen television set just in time. Constance Young was looking straight out of the screen, tears welling in her luminous blue eyes.

"The years I've spent with all of you have meant more than I can possibly express. Each morning we've faced the world together. We've learned new things together, explored possibilities together, had some laughs together, and faced too many harsh realities together."

Listening to the words coming from the television, Eliza found herself admiring Constance's beautifully cut green jacket and the lighting that accented her glowing skin and her ever-blonder hair. Eliza wondered if she should talk to the director about making some adjustments to the lighting on her own Evening Headlines set. She was definitely going to talk with Doris about upping the makeup magic to camouflage the darkness that inevitably developed beneath her eyes. In the last tapes Eliza had reviewed, there was no denying she'd appeared tired.

When Eliza went from hosting KEY to America to anchoring The KEY Evening Headlines, she had been thrilled at the professional achievement and the privilege of becoming one of the select few to whom the national audience turned to deliver the news of the day. But the mother in her had also looked forward to a more civilized schedule. She wouldn't have to get up at 4:00 a.m. anymore. She could have breakfast with Janie and take her to school in the morning before leaving for work. Other mothers might sigh at the daily grind of transporting their kids to and from school, but Eliza—though she could well afford a driver—savored the normalcy of those car rides with her first-grader. As it turned out, the reality of the nightly anchor job was just as much study and homework and travel as she'd done in her previous position, and though Janie and she could share scrambled eggs in the morning, they never had dinner together during the week. Eliza considered it a good day when she was home in time to tuck her daughter into bed at night.

Constance Young had replaced Eliza on KEY to America. And now Constance was leaving the highly rated morning program as well, but not for...

Mary Jane Clark is the bestselling author of ten novels, including Do You Want To Know A Secret?, Nowhere To Run, and Dancing in the Dark. A longtime writer and producer at CBS News' New York headquarters, she knows intimately the world about which she writes. She lives in New Jersey.