Eleven-year-old math prodigy Ada is a socially inept genius. Mary Godwin, age fourteen, is a romantic. Mary and Ada will be tutored by Percy B. Snagsby, who may or may not be a spy. As the two girls become fast friends, their irrepressible curiosity leads to the formation of the secretive Wollstonecraft Detective Agency. Their first case involves a stolen pendant, a false confession, and an array of fishy suspects; but these are no match for the deductive powers and bold hearts of Ada and Mary.