Twelve days from retirement, Detective Constable Douglas MacDonald's Christmas wish is for a peaceful, crimeless holiday season. His partner, Roberta Cameron, wishes Douglas would leave the 1980s behind. Neither will get what they want. When people in the quaint, peaceful town of Hillford start dying at an extraordinary rate, in unusual ways, Douglas and Roberta's holiday season is anything but peaceful. Each death gnaws at the officers. It's all very familiar. But how? Roberta is desperate to catch the killer before news of her involvement in the case reaches the one person she's tried to hide from for ten years. But when a mysterious letter appears on her doorstep Roberta fears for her life. Douglas' bottomless cup of whiskey; his witty banter with Roberta; and flirtations with Ada, the crime scene technician supervisor, are what keep him sane. Mostly.