Art Parker, an unemployed journalist, answers an ad for employment, but the ad has few details about what the job entails or where he'll be working. He gets the job after an evening interview at a huge Victorian-style mansion miles from anywhere. The owner, an incredibly wealthy old man, hires Art as live-in writing coach for his teenage granddaughter.
That sounds like an easy, relaxing sort of job, at least until the next afternoon when Art and Mary Ann—she's the granddaughter—find the housemaid dead on the girl's bedroom floor. An out-of-control sheriff, a bizarrely named lawyer, a beautiful librarian, a marvelous cook, and a huge valet/gardener clutter the landscape and add a pile of confusion while Art and Mary Ann decide to do some detecting on their own. What do they turn up? Another body.
After enlisting the help of Mary Ann's friend, Jennifer, the unlikely sleuths eventually solve both murders but not before nearly becoming victims themselves.