It is Christmas morning and Maggie Mercer finds something under a tree. This tree is no Norwegian spruce sheltering shiny parcels. Instead, beneath a towering pine, she discovers a man's body roped to a fence post.
Detective Inspector Elizabeth Jewell leaves a family get together in Oxford to attend the scene. The victim is Harry Steele, a local stonemason.
As the investigation progresses, Jewell and Patterson uncover Steele's unsavoury past. One clear fact emerges Steele had many enemies. However, which one of them wanted him dead?
Still recovering from a previous case Jewell and Patterson must unravel their suspect's lies and their complex motives.