Jeannie Kinneman is a good Judge's daughter with a good job in the city and good prospects. Her only vices are a fondness for good food, good scotch, good wine, and bad men. One particular bad man, actually: Sterling Carcieri, private investigator. When she invites him over for Christmas dinner, she thinks she has a pretty good idea of what she's getting herself into, but she winds up getting more than even she bargained for when she becomes embroiled in a conspiracy to ruin her father's reputation. When the chips fall, she has only her own native detective skills to fall back on. Will it be enough?

This is a short detective story set in a fictional Bartonville, Ontario, Canada in the winter of 1949, featuring characters from the upcoming Sterling Carcieri series.