International House of Chicago -- host to the voices of world politics, dance and music -- finds its director dead, the victim of foul play.
 
Geneva Anderson, an aspiring African American poet and the victim's niece, discovers the body, and before the shock wears off, she finds she is heir to her aunt's estate.
 
Geneva is stunned again to learn that her aunt's estate is worth millions.  While Geneva struggles to understand how her aunt amassed a fortune on her wages as I-House director, the police decide she is their prime suspect for the murder and arrest her.
 
In order to clear herself, she must navigate through a web of lies, secrets and revenge to learn the Poetry of Murder.