When a $100,000 bracelet is stolen in Boston, Massachusetts in 1913, it's impossible to imagine that it might end up in the secluded mountain village of Claggett Cove. But as suspicious circumstances arise, one adventurous 13-year-old -- the 6-foot, 4-inch tall rascal Lanky Lonagan -- allows his curiosity to get the better of him. Several suspicious strangers have arrived in the Cover of late, and Lanky and his friend Woodrow suspect one after the other, even several of them at once, of being in league as a gang of thieves. Pursuing clue after clue in search of the truth, Lanky quickly finds himself knee-deep in tracking down the priceless jewelry that once belonged to Empress Catherine the Great of Russia ... as well as a $1,000-dollar reward!