Nine-year-old Nicholas Benedict, an orphan afflicted with an unfortunate nose and with narcolepsy, is sent to a new orphanage where he encounters vicious bullies, selfish adults, strange circumstances, and a mystery that could change his life forever.

"Mystery-book aficionado Birdie Lindberg has an overactive imagination. Homeschooled by strict grandparents, she's cultivated a fantasy life in which she plays the heroic detective and every stranger is a suspect. She works the graveyard shift at a historic Seattle hotel, where Daniel Aoki is the van driver. He also patronizes the waterfront Moonlight Diner where she waits for the early morning ferry after work. They stumble upon a real-life mystery:...