The following version of this book was used to create this guide: Smiley, Jane. A Dangerous Business. Alfred A. Knopf, 2022.

Smiley's novel is divided into 21 chapters. It proceeds chronologically through roughly a year in the life of Eliza, a sex worker who lives in the town of Monterey, California in 1852.

The novel begins with Eliza recounting the details of her husband's death in a bar fight, which she does not mourn -- he was abusive. Mrs. Parks, the owner of a brothel, comes to Eliza at his funeral, and she goes to work there. The action goes back to the present day, when Eliza meets an old customer named Elijah Harwood at his house; she is put off by the fact that his wife, Mrs. Harwood, is aware of the nature of their relationship. Shortly after, the first girl goes missing -- a prostitute who worked in a different brothel nearby. Months later, another girl goes missing. Eliza meets Jean, a sex worker in a brothel that only services women, and they became fast friends. Jean introduces her to Edgar Allan Poe. They go on a ride with one of Jean's clients, Mrs. Melvin, and find the corpse of a girl in the road.

They go to see a body in the morgue in town who ends up being a different girl than the one whose body they found. Eliza meets other clients, some of whom she suspects may be the murderer. She also witnesses an altercation where a man slaps a woman. She hears a scream when they go out of her sight. Soon after, Eliza suspiciously finds a glove and a piece of twine in a graveyard. She later meets a client named Lucas, who is very kind to her.

Eliza and Jean go to visit Mrs. Marvin, who hasn't been seen in a couple days, and find her dead body in her house. It's learned shortly thereafter that the husband is responsible.

With Lucas, they come across the man Eliza saw slap the woman earlier -- his name is Zeke. The meeting goes uneventfully, and soon after, Eliza confronts Zeke on the street. He explains she screamed because of a tarantula on her skirt, which satisfies Eliza.

Later on, Eliza goes to the restaurant in town and is suspiciously eyed by a man there that she doesn't know. She later receives a letter from her mother asking for information on Eliza (who hasn't written in over a year). Soon after, Eliza and Jean stumble across another dead body.

The man who eyes Eliza visits her as a client. He is a moody lawyer from Chicago, and Eliza feels slightly unsettled in his presence before accidentally discovering a dagger in his jacket. She tells Jean, who says he is likely the murderer. He continues to meet with Eliza; around the same time, Eliza meets the nephew of Elijah Harwood, David, who seems normal. She eventually sees the lawyer go out of his house and she peeks in the windows, spotting a display of knives. Shortly after this, he invites Eliza to a picnic.

During the picnic, Eliza spots Zeke moving toward her with a dagger, but Jean rides up behind Zeke on a horse, subdues him, and Eliza kills him. The lawyer confesses that he was helping Zeke commit the murders because Zeke witnessed him kill his wife. He commits suicide.

As the novel ends, Jean says she is going to work on the Underground Railroad, and Eliza takes a job with Mrs. Harwood helping her around the house.