In this first title in the detective fiction series by L. M. Falcone, ten-year-old Max Monroe is intrigued to discover that the carriage house behind his grandpa's home was once the office of the Monroe Detective Agency. Then he learns the agency had belonged to his grandpa's dead brother, Larry. But Max didn't know he had a great-uncle. "Well, he's dead," says Grandpa Harry, "but his ghost still haunts the detective agency." It seems Uncle Larry died of a broken heart because he "never solved one measly case." However, a surprise phone call from a magician named Marty the Magnificent with an offer of a detective job seems like the second chance Larry has been begging for. Except, Larry is a ghost -- he can't work a case in the real world. But Max can! With Larry's help, of course.