"A grave injustice." Those are the words in the letter sent to Charlotte Frayne, P.I., on a cold March morning. The newspapers have reported on the arrest of two Black teenagers in a burglary, but did the pair actually commit the crime? Not according to the letter's sender, Mrs. Olivia Brodie. A resident of the Toronto House of Industry — "the poor house" — Mrs. Brodie was running an early morning errand when she witnessed, on the morning of the crime, two men behaving in a suspicious manner near the burgled home: two white men. Meanwhile, Charlotte is investigating another theft — this one at the home of a woman on the opposite end of the social hierarchy. As she juggles her investigations, Charlotte finds unexpected links between people and personal histories, along with more than one "grave injustice."