A bicycle race is not Violet Waverly's idea of a pleasant pastime. But police chief David Rainwater wants them to enter the Tour de Cascade as a couple, so she reluctantly consents. As if the bike race weren't tiring enough, private investigator Joel Redding is snooping around Charming Books. It takes all of Violet's and Grandma Daisy's ingenuity to keep Redding from discovering the shop's magical essence. When Redding perishes in an accident during the race, David discovers that the brake line of the private eye's bike was cut. Worse, Violet tops his list of suspects. As Emerson the tuxedo cat and resident crow Faulkner look on, Charming Books steers Violet to the works of Walt Whitman to solve the crime.