In the wake of a family tragedy, twelve-year-old Flavia is struggling to fill her empty days. For a needed escape, Dogger, suggests a boating trip for Flavia and her two older sisters. But in the water is a human head, attached to a human body. If anything could take Flavia's mind off sorrow, it is solving a murder--although one that may lead the young sleuth to an early grave. The world's greatest adolescent British chemist/busybody/sleuth.