Katie Cooper, a typical school girl, becomes a committed crime solver after her pet hamster is killed in an arson fire.

At the scene of a house fire, Detective Kim Stone discovers that two teen aged children and their parents have died, each body marked by a gunshot wound, the mother holding the gun. Kim uncovers a tiny, vital clue that suggests someone else could be the killer and that the remaining family members are in danger.

A year after her artistic mother's death, fifteen-year-old Maggie puts aside her desire to set fires and hopes for more solidity in life, as her down-to-earth father prepares to marry a like-minded woman and sell their home on the Staten Island shore.

"When detective Owen McKenna's cabin narrowly escapes burning in an arson-set forest fire, the local fire department hires him to investigate. With the aid of his Great Dane Spot and search-and-rescue dog Natasha, Owen discovers a burned body. A second fire and a second body follow. Although Owen doesn't know if the deaths are murders or accidents, it is clear that the arsonist is deadly serious about his threat to light a monster fire that will incinerate...