'In a strange, vast and wonderfully imagined museum, an apprentice sculptor and student scientist must solve a murder. Julia Golding has written a gripping helter-skelter story that will keep you guessing and start you thinking.' - Roger Wagner, artist and painter

Is curiosity a crime? Ree discovers the unfairness of being a girl in a male-dominated scientific world, where alternative ideas are swiftly squashed.

Enter a fantasy island where Phil the dodo and other unusual wild animals roam corridors, great halls and an underground network of passages of a magnificent museum and science academy. Prevented from following her creative passion as a stonemason, Ree is confined to cleaning the halls at night as a maid.

But then the murders start happening... A determined scholar Henri and strong-willed Ree join forces to solve the mysteries and prove their innocence.