On a beautiful spring day in New York City, writer Daniel Freund receives two surprises. First he finds a long sought after 1953 edition of The Great Gatsby free for the taking on the steps of a building right down the block. The other occurs when he brings home his treasure, begins to read it and sees the words lift off the page and start rearranging themselves. After a few moments he realizes he is being sent a message that there has been a murder.

Prompted by The Great Gatsby itself, Freund begins an investigation. Guarding the brownstone's premises is notorious nosy neighbor Ms. Estelle Belfer, who is only too happy to share the details: a death in a locked room a few years back, deemed an open-and-shut suicide by the police. Freund eventually wrangles his way into the non-crime scene and finds there is a lot more to the story. Now, wildly curious and determined to find out what really happened (and coming home to a book becoming more noisy, insistent, and emotional), he delves deeper and deeper into the case.