Asked to look into some strange happenings at Scarlet House, a historical re-enactment museum, Gemma Doyle, owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, and Jayne instead find a dead body and suspect foul play as secrets about the museum come to light.

The first national museum whose mission is to illuminate for all people, the rich, diverse, complicated, and important experiences and contributions of African Americans in America is opening. And the history of NMAAHC--the last museum to be built on the National Mall--is the history of America. The campaign to set up a museum honoring black citizens is nearly 100 years old; building the museum itelf and assembling its incredibly far-reaching collections...

A brutally murdered man whom no one believed had an enemy, turns local historians on their heads as century-old letters found written to him by a woman affilated with Tiffany surface; the mausoleum at Green-Wood Cemetery is temporarily off-limits, and Erica Donato, history graduate assigned to catalog the letters in the museum where she's employed, all reveal an unknown and unexpected past.