Adopted at birth, Hannah Conti is determined to trace her family - but didn't bargain for a mother convicted of murder.
Hannah is convinced that her mother is innocent, and hires Grace Smith to prove it. Glad to get out of the office (the boiler's broken and it's freezing!) Grace soon uncovers the story of the very messy murder of teacher Trudy Hepburn. As she investigates, she is obstructed by an awful lot of people who would rather she stopped digging. As if this wasn't enough, Grace has been conned into bird-sitting a psychotic parrot, a chauvinistic cop keeps trying to move in to Grace's house - and someone's trying to kill her . . .