A certain amount of celebrity is inevitable when you're Sherlock Holmes's granddaughter, especially when you're also a consulting detective. But for Portia Adams, it’s getting to be a little much. She decides to escape the rabid London press by chasing a case all the way to Italy. When she gets back, it seems that the media frenzy has finally run its course—but now she’s got bigger things to worry about. Sherlock Holmes is missing, his apartment burned to the ground. Her boyfriend, Gavin Whitaker, is acting strangely and spending too much time with unsavory people. And as if that weren’t enough, her best friend Brian isn’t speaking to her. Can Portia right all that has happened in her brief absence or will she lose someone she loves to the gray London streets?