Edward Castell is dead. The official verdict is heart failure. The official verdict is wrong. Within two weeks, Edward's granddaughter Acacia and her parents move into 11 Whispering Pines Road. Acacia soon meets Quietus, a young necromancer who struggles with his inability to kill animals, and his sister Yvonne, who likes to kill animals rather too much. Together, they investigate Edward's death. It has something to do with the shadow haunting the wizard's house. And the people who keep disappearing on Whispering Pines Road. And the room behind the hidden door in Acacia's bedroom.