Librarian Helma Zukas usually keeps her home as well organized as the library where she works so she never expected a visit from her elderly Aunt Em to turn her life into a chaos and provide her with the makings of a hair-raising whodunit. The moment Helma and her fearless friend Ruth arrive at the airport to pick up the slightly dotty dowager, the trouble begins when the dear lady's purse is snatched.

Thinking the incident is safely filed away, they are shocked to arrive home with the recovered puse only to discover the dead body of the would-be thief outside Helma's apartment. Helma can't believe her favorite aunt would be involved in anything unsavory but, with a little investigation, she discovers that Aunt Em's life is not quite an open book. It appears that some dark secrets are about to come to light, and unless Helma can learn the whole story, the final chapters are about to be written as a tale of mystery, mayhem...and murder.