Rumors of strange sightings in the local lake are making waves in Loch Mallaig, Michigan, where Molly Ferris and her best friends, Carol MacCallan and Laura Donovan, operate a popular Scottish bakehouse. Molly has heard the gossip floating around about the so-called Loch Mallaig Monster and chalked it up to the Month of the Faeries, the October pranking tradition celebrated by the town. The last thing she expects when she visits the pier is to actually see the long-necked creature gliding through the water with her own eyes. Although Molly knows there couldn't possibly be a mythical beast lurking in their loch, not everyone in town has such a firm grasp on reality. Monster mania reaches a fever pitch in the midst of a library presentation about water cryptids--and the unreal situation becomes anything but fantasy when local college student Jamison Abernathy dies at the end of the lecture and the police declare it murder. Jamison's grieving girlfriend asks Molly and her friends for help exonerating his best friend for the crime, pulling the Bakehouse Three into a tangled mess of questionable business ethics, intense family drama, and dubious scholarly pursuits. Determined to uncover Jamison's killer, Molly tracks the truth to dangerous lengths. But when it comes time to sink or swim, will Molly keep her head above water or will she drown in deadly deceit?