1935. Dora Wildwood is escaping a most unsuitable marriage. She's on the first train to London, and she plans to go straight to her godmother Lady Dreda Uglow, the only woman she knows who seems to live life on her own terms, and ask to stay. But unsuitable marriages usually feature unsuitable fiancés, and Dora's is more persistent than most. As she flees across town, trying to outrun the loathsome Charles Silk-Butters, Dora ducks into the London Library to hide, asking the quizzical but kind Ben Stark and the clever Miss Amani for help. And it is there, surrounded by books, where she should feel most safe, that Dora Wildwood most unfortunately stumbles across her first dead body. Having been thrown into the middle of a murder scene, it's now impossible to walk away. Indeed, Dora's certain she will prove an invaluable help to the gruff Detective Inspector Fox who swiftly arrives on the scene.