Life seems perfect for Lucy, a young woman with no desire to complicate her life with romance and mystery. One day, however, things start going wrong. At first, she thinks all the mishaps in her life are accidents, but when a repairman finds a mysterious key lodged behind her front doorbell, the contemporary mystery deepens. And then, just as she is about to investigate, her sister comes to her with terrible news: her husband has disappeared without a trace. Determined to give her sister some comfort, Lucy dials the number of a private investigator, who visits and assures them he will do all he can to solve the crime cases he has brought to them, and understand the criminal intent behind them. However, amidst their burgeoning contemporary adult romance detective Richard Warner and Lucy discover something shocking: could Lucy's misfortunes be connected to the disappearance of her sister's husband? But when a body is found matching the description of the missing man, the contemporary mystery becomes far more serious. The inquiries of the private investigator lead him to the munitions factory owned by the missing man, to the romance and mystery surrounding the secretary and her oddly-timed trip to Paris, to crime cases centred around the theft of a very valuable collection of stamps. Time is running out, however. The criminal intent masterminding these thefts has turned his attention on Lucy and her sister. In order to save their lives and his new contemporary adult romance detective Warner must use all his cunning to solve the case before it is too late.