When Vera Bodine, an elderly recluse with an exceptional memory, goes missing, detective duo Lillian Pentecost and her assistant Willowjean "Will" Parker are hired to track her down.

But New York City in 1947 is a dangerous place, and there's no shortage of people who want to bury the secrets that Bodine has been keeping. As the clock is ticking to find Bodine alive, circumstances conspire to pull both investigators off the case. Will is hot on the trail of a stick-up team who are using her name - and maybe her gun - for their own ends.

While Lillian finds herself up against murder-obsessed millionaire Jessup Quincannon, who has discovered a secret from her past that threatens to destroy her. To solve this mystery, and defeat their own personal demons, the pair must go nose-to-nose with murderous gangsters, make deals with conniving federal agents, confront Nazi spies, and bend their own ethical rules to the point of breaking - before time runs out for everyone.