Ellie Hardwick is a young architect, specialising in ancient buildings. Working for a Suffolk practice, she spends her days amongst the architectural gems of East Anglia—great houses, cathedrals, medieval churches and castles. In her work, she trips over the occasional corpse, ghost or wrong-doing. Architecture has much in common with detective work and Ellie uses her investigative skills to unravel ancient mysteries. An ally in her endeavours is Detective Inspector Richard Jennings, who finds himself grudgingly involved with her problems.