Miranda Brooks grew up in the stacks of her eccentric uncle Billy's bookstore, solving the scavenger hunts he created just for her. But on her twelfth birthday, Billy has a falling-out with her mother and disappears from Miranda's life. Sixteen years later, she receives unexpected news: Billy has died and left her Prospero Books, which is teetering on bankruptcy, and one final scavenger hunt. Returning to the bookstore as its owner, Miranda is drawn into a journey through Billy's past -- and the terrible secret that tore her family apart.