Amicably divorced from art gallery keeper Elliot McCallister, Samantha Kinsey (who always dreamed of being a detective like her prosecutor's office friend, Cassie,) inherits her uncle's mystery-specialized bookshop. It comes with a mysterious clerk, presumed retired spy Ian Philby. Her former literature professor and true crime author Jack Stenning's adopted daughter with psychic abilities, Tracy, bemoans her father's dismissal of her fear of his writing a book about her nightmarish vision of a ten-year-old murder, which reveals a witness survived. At a party in his home to present the new book, Jack is murdered by a surprise guest who brought a noose to stage a suicide and took evidence from the scene. Jack's estranged son Tom and his boss Lt. Robert Hawke investigate but rule suicide. Although his beneficiary, and claiming she loved Jack despite serial adultery, widow Mary asks the bookstore's would-be-sleuths to prove it a murder and solve it. Shortly after, Sam is the target of a break-in and sabotage.—KGF Vissers