Cali Rhodes is used to digging up the past, but usually, it stays buried. When her friend, historian Niels Vinter, vanishes from the "Little Mermaid" fountain in Solvang, California, leaving behind only a wet bow tie and a cryptic message, Cali knows this is no ordinary disappearance.
The trail leads to the Bethania Windmill, a massive piece of 19th-century engineering that looms over the Danish-American town. There, she teams up with Soren Kjeldsen, a rugged millwright who protects the town's history with a framing hammer and a deep distrust of outsiders. Together, they uncover a plot by a ruthless developer to burn down the mill and pave over the town's heritage.
To save the town, Cali must decode the "Aebleskiver Cipher"-a secret message hidden within a draft of a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. From the dizzying heights of the windmill's cap to the claustrophobic depths of a museum chimney, Cali and Soren are in a race against time.
With the Danish Days festival in full swing and fireworks set to provide the perfect cover for arson, Cali has to use every high-tech tool in her van, The Wanderer, to prove that some covenants are written in ink, but the most important ones are written on the wind.
Pack your bags for the Danish Capital of America The pastries are sweet, the coffee is strong, and the secrets are deadly.