Tommy and Tuppence Beresford are just settling into their new home in the resort town of Hollowquay when they come across a collection of children’s books hidden away by a previous owner. But the message left in one of them is hardly child’s play: Mary Jordan did not die naturally. Thanks to the long and colorful memory of the local gossips, the Laurel’s former occupant has been kept very much alive – at least in spirit. So have the questions about the woman’s real identity, her strange and powerful secrets, and the warnings that someone in Hollowquay wants to keep Mary Jordan’s mysterious life – and death – a secret forever…