When chemist Anne Hillstrom finds her Great Aunt Sybil dead on her living room floor, she immediately contacts the police. The death scene has all the earmarks of a robbery gone awry. Unfortunately, the police seem unable to determine if the old woman's demise is a crime or an accident. When Anne attends an estate sale for recent lottery winner, Tim Whitmore, she finds an antique spoon under the deceased man's bed. Enlisting the help of her friend--journalist CC Muller, a fellow antique hunter and blogger--the two women begin an investigation into what happened to Tim Whitmore. Along the way, Anne and CC travel throughout the Great Lakes region, visiting yard sales, estate sales, and generally scrounging around, searching for antiques and possible clues that might lead to the history of the small spoon found under Whitmore's bed. With each find, the women unknowingly become closer to unraveling the truth. Eventually, their snooping becomes too much for the killer, who decides to put an end to these two nosy antique hunters. The stakes have been raised. It's no longer MURDER BY THE SPOONFUL