When a high-ranking RAAF officer disappears without explanation from an RAAF Base, Phryne is called upon by an old flame to discreetly solve the mystery.

In the world of family Italian restaurants, old grudges from the village are stirred up when matriarch Nonna Luisa dies and the ownership of a secret book of recipes becomes the suspected motive.

The same morning Phryne is approached by a young boy whose brother has gone missing, Dr Mac calls her to advise that another boy has been found in a shallow grave near the hospital where she works.

When Phryne's Aunt Prudence opens her home to psychiatrist and natural healer, Hayden Samuels, to conduct his sanatorium for 'hysterical' women, Phryne takes on more than she bargained for.

When a Hotel Concierge is pushed from the rooftop with an empty bag 'souvenired' from Phryne's house Jack calls Phryne into investigate what looks like a robbery gone wrong.

When Phryne hosts a tennis tournament to raise money for female tennis players, the practice partner of a rising star is fatally bitten by a spider, and a murder investigation reveals Phryne's hidden fear.

When a prize-winning scientist is found murdered on the same night the man intent on murdering Henry Fisher escapes police custody, Phryne must put all misgivings aside to protect her father.