In 1970's San Francisco, Julie is excited to take care of Ivy's talking parrot while her friend is on vacation, but strange things are happening at Ivy's house and an old friend of Julie may be to blame.
Caroline worries that British spies may be lurking in Sackets Harbor, but when strange things start happening at Abbott's Shipyard Caroline wonders if a spy, either someone she has known all her life or Papa's long-lost friend, is responsible.
Marie-Grace is excited that a well-known English opera company will perform at the very theater where she takes singing lessons from Aunt Océane, but as she and her friend Cécile help out backstage, the make disturbing discoveries.
While visiting an old castle in England, Samantha and Nellie solve mysteries involving a ghost and some missing rare books. Includes end note about England in the early twentieth century.