Immediately after meeting the man of her dreams, he's shot in the heart. While he's in the hospital in a coma, Ophelia begins to dream of being in Paris during World War II. These dreams are also very vivid and Ophelia feels that she's somehow living another person's life. While Ophelia is trying to stay out of the investigation, she can't help following up on leads that the police don't seem to feel are related to the case.

Of course, as usual, this gets Ophelia in trouble and her usual way of handling trouble is to get her soon-to-be daughter and grandmother out of the vicinity of the trouble until she can fix things. This hasn't worked in any of the other books, but she always thinks that it will. As usual, her grandmother, Abby, can't be fooled and ends up helping Ophelia realize that she can't run from what she is and she needs to accept that. In the past, Ophelia felt that her talent should allow her to stop bad things from happening to people, especially people she loves, and since it doesn't work that way she wants it to go away. Over several books, she's been trying to learn to understand and use her talent but she hasn't really accepted it. This book is pivotal in Ophelia's development of her talent and her self-reliance.

The story, as are all the others, are usually convoluted mysteries that leave you following the clues and wondering which are important and which are just your everyday incidents that can be ignored. The usual cast of characters from the library, town, and other books make their appearances along with some new people. There's a touch of history, current events, and mayhem but, in the end, the reader will be entertained.

Spending time with a series is similar to visiting a place you enjoy. The characters of the Ophelia and Abby mysteries are interesting and adding them to mystery and mayhem makes for very good reading.