It was a great opportunity, a beautiful day, and a perfect setting: home designer Erin Gilbert was headed to a lovely Crestview, Colorado, neighborhood to engage in a friendly little design contest with her nearest and less-than-dearest competitor, the unspeakably handsome Steve Sullivan. Erin would do a room in one home. Across the street, Steve would do another. Between Gilbert and Sullivan, may the best eye win.

Neither designer could suspect that rearranging two spaces on a winter weekend would set off an uproar in the neighborhood—of quirky homeowners, passionate secrets, and marriages in need of extreme makeovers. Looking for a friend in this perilously unhinged environment, Erin wants to think that Steve might turn from competitor to ally…But somewhere between her faux wall finish and her custom window treatments, Erin is in for a shock: It seems that a killer has created this designing job just for her!