The book begins with a fairly typical boy living a fairly typical life in a small seaside town in Yorkshire. Murphy has just moved there from the bright lights of London with his father Mike and sister Darla.
Murphy begins the book as a lonely individual. He has no real friends at school (they all think he talks funny) and his real friends are at the other end of the country and only really contactable via email. He is a hard working student though whose favourite subjects are Art and History. He tends to keep his head down at school and is a very quiet young man. His father is worried about him and wishes he had been able to fit in like his younger sister, but he knows his son is a good boy and that he can rely on him.
Murphy's mum died before they moved to Whitleby, and the whole family, with the help of Gran, are struggling to carry on without her. In fact, her death was part of the reason for the move.
Life in Whitleby is very quiet but contains much of the usual irritations that children face all over the country: over-zealous PE teachers forcing them to play rugby in the pouring rain, Maths lessons which make the brain hurt and fearsome Science teachers who strike terror into the very hearts of their pupils. Oh, and embarrassing Grandmas, nosey little sisters and did I mention the rain? Murphy has settled into his life there well and spends a lot of time sketching and drawing his cartoon book ideas. He gets his love of art from his mum.
He occasionally does manage to talk to others in his class. One topic which has gotten them all talking is the disappearance of local school boy Jake (who was a student in Murphy's class). He went missing during the summer and nobody had seen any sign of him since. Murphy's dad who is the Chief of Police has been focussing all of his energy on finding Jake but with no joy at all. Any sightings quickly turn to nothing and meanwhile the local townspeople are distraught. The school buzzes with theories about his disappearance, and the little nuggets of information Murphy can bring to the discussions are prized and savoured.
Then Murphy gets an unexpected break in this mystery – a sighting of Jake himself. Not anywhere you would expect to see him though. Murphy sees him in the mirror at the top of his stairs.......
At first Murphy thinks he is going mad – who sees missing people in mirrors? The answer in Murphy's mind is definitely crazy people. One very bizarre trip through the mirror into another world proves Murphy to be entirely sane but also reveals to Murphy a side of life he never knew existed.
The world of the Montalians and the oath of the Cinquicians are all explained to Murphy (once he comes round from his dead faint anyway) and the reason for his introduction to their world is also revealed. He is to act as a temporary liaison between the human world and the Montalian race. Jake is in fact a Montalian himself who is posing as a child in the human world to keep both world's up to speed with developments and potential problems and hazards. Normally these human parents are charmed into believing their “offspring” are away at camp or visiting relatives when they need to be elsewhere – but occasionally the charms go astray. This is why the human world are looking for Jake and is part of why they need Murphy's help.
Murphy has to skip between his normal life and this alternative world, helping the Montalians to protect and preserve the earth according to their sacred oath. Murphy has to keep this world a complete secret from everyone he knows – if he reveals this secret this could have dire consequences for him and for the Montalian race itself.
The end of the book sees Murphy helping his Dad to solve his case and “find” Jake but also helping the Montalians to keep their existence a secret. There are many close calls within the book but they manage to avoid detection by any of the wrong people.
Murphy is then ready to face the next challenge that comes his way in the next of his Mysterious Mysteries - “The Secret Policeman's Ball.”
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