Fourteen years after her last adventure, Thursday Next, literary detective, finds herself in an unusual situation her job policing the fictional characters of the BookWorld has been downgraded since her previous escapades are now themselves in print. However, a pressing threat may call her back into action: first Sherlock Holmes and then Miss Marple are found dead, stopping their series in their tracks. When Thursdays written self also receives a death threat, it becomes clear that a serial killer is on the loose. Meanwhile, the Goliath Corporation plan on taking literary tourists on holiday in the novels of Jane Austen. Thursday alone realizes the true intent of Goliaths unwanted incursions into fiction, but she cant fight all these battles on her own. She must team up with the one person she cant really get along with: the written Thursday Next.