Just after twelve-year-old Emily and her family move to San Francisco, she teams up with new friend James to follow clues in an odd book they find, hoping to figure out its secrets before the men who attacked Emily's hero, publisher Garrison Griswold, solve the mystery or come after the friends.

"In the late 1950s, Random House editor Jason Epstein would talk jazz with authors like Ralph Ellison while pouring drinks in his office. By the late 1960s, he was poring over profit-and-loss statements. What happened? Beginning in 1965 after RCA bought Random House and then with subsequent purchases of publishing companies by multinational conglomerates, the business of publishing started to change. With more of an emphasis on rationalization, many...

In an effort to give their younger brother, Norman a project to keep him busy now that he has joined the family publishing house, the older Warne brothers agree to publish Miss Beatrix Potter's first children's book. They don't expect the book to sell well, but they need to keep Norman busy. As a single woman living in Edwardian London, Beatrix suspects this endeavor may provide her with a small measure of freedom. But she also has very specific ideas...