艾恩斯利·麦格雷戈原以为，手工艺市集和读书会，而非死人骨头，会描画她回甜河镇老家的新光景。可直到读书会一位心肝儿成员提起一桩冷案，牵扯她亡夫——为那块稀世古董表叫人谋害了。艾恩斯利立马扑进漩涡，要在凶手为下个冤魂上紧发条前，撕开这小镇秘密的蛛网。

ISABEL SULLIVAN (15) has just moved to a small town to live with her uncle PAUL who is the town's mayor. Isabel has recently lost her parents in a car accident. Feeling very alone and friendless, Isabel befriends a stray robot dog named ARCHIE. Though he looks like a normal dog, he is anything but. He can talk. He can run at blinding speed. He's got super strength and x-ray vision. Isabel and Archie become fast friends. She teaches him how to be a normal dog while he helps her to fit in with the cool kid clique. Most of all, Isabel can confide in Archie about what happened to her parents. Archie can relate. He's never had a family - until now. As the summer progresses, things start to get tricky. Paul is up for re-election and finds himself running against VERONICA TAYLOR who happens to be in cahoots with BURGERTROPOLIS - a national fast food franchise that has been trying to buy Paul out for years. What's worse, an evil man named HUGH JABLONSKI shows up in town claiming to be ...