Young widow, Adorna Miggins is running a lodging house in 1829 Edinburgh which has just been rocked by the Burke and Hare murders. The income from her business keeps her and Aunt Toffy fed and housed. But lately her aunt has been communicating with a spirit—a feisty Roman named Meridius with a taste for bannocks and mischief. Adorna is afraid if her aunt's eccentric behavior becomes common knowledge it will destroy her reputation and that of her boarding house. Tobias Rawlings is newly returned to Scotland on a secret quest he doesn't wish to share. He sparks everyone's curiosity when he goes out each day and returns covered in dirt and will not say what he is up to. Is it larceny? Ditch digging? Grave robbing? He is a mystery that occupies Adorna and Toffy's interest. Soon Toffy begins to find lost items and solve the unsolvable with the help of her spiritual advisor. Adorna simply cannot believe that ghosts exist and even if they did why would a Roman ghost be residing in her humble lodging house?