For Cass Tuplin, proprietor of the Rusty Bore Takeaway (and definitely not an unlicensed private investigator), it's weird enough that her neighbour Vern's somehow acquired a lady friend. But then he asks Cass to look into the case of the dead rats someone's dumped on Joanne's doorstep.

She's barely started when Joanne goes missing, leaving hints of an unsavoury past. Then a private investigator from Melbourne turns up asking questions about Joanne's involvement in a fatal house fire - and before you can say 'unauthorised investigation' Cass is back on the case.