Present day: Annie Adams is just settling into life in Castle Knoll when local fortune teller Peony Lane crosses her path and shares a cryptic message. When Peony Lane is found dead only hours later inside the locked Gravesdown Estate, Annie quickly realizes that someone is out to make her look guilty while silencing Peony at the same time. 1967: A year has passed since her friend Emily disappeared, and Frances Adams finds herself caught between two men. Ford Gravesdown is one of the only remaining members of a family known for its wealth. Archie Foyle is a local who can’t hold down a job. But when Frances teams up with Archie to investigate the car crash that claimed the lives of Ford's family, it quickly becomes clear that this was no accident. The question is, just how far does the blackness creep through the heart of Castle Knoll?

It’s 1965, and teenager Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’ night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly 60 years later, when Frances is found murdered. In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’ lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager just might have a motive for her murder.