It's the season of peace on earth and goodwill toward men except at R&P Labs, which has been drawn into the middle of a feud between two Seattle seafood restaurants.A customer has died from an unusual form of food poisoning found in oysters and the restaurant where he had his last meal is in trouble. So is R&P, which had just tested their food and given them a clean bill of health.

So as Christmas approaches, the R&P team again find their scientific jobs interrupted by the need for some urgent detective work. In the third book in the series, Mitch goes undercover as a waiter as he and his colleagues join forces with an inept electrician, a Chihuahua and a seagull named Fred to solve the mystery, salvage their reputation and lay some old ghosts to rest.