Xmas Eve, 1814. Jane Austen has been invited to spendthe vacation with family and friends in the Vyne, the gorgeous ancestral home ofthe wealthy and politically prominent Chute family. As the entire year fades andfriends begin to gather under the mistletoe for the twelve days of Christmasfestivities, Jane and her group are within a celebratory mood: Mansfield Parkis selling nicely; Napoleon continues to be banished to Elba; British makes haveseized Washington, DC; and on Christmas Eve, John Quincy Adams indicators the Treatyof Ghent, that will end a war nobody in England really wanted.

Jane, however, discovers vacation cheer is certainly fleeting. One ofthe Yuletide gathering dies inside a tragic incident whose conditions Jane immediatelyviews with suspicion. If the accident was in fact murder, the killer is usually one ofJane’s fellow snowbound guests. With hints scattered amid cleverly craftedcharades, dark secrets coming to light during parlor games, and old friendshipsreturning to haunt the Christmas parties, whom can Jane trust to help herdiscover the truth and prevent the killer from stunning again?