It€s Christmastime, and the precocious Flavia de Luce€"an eleven-year-old sleuth with a passion for chemistry and a penchant for crime-solving€"is tucked away in her laboratory, whipping up a concoction to ensnare Saint Nick. But she is soon distracted when a film crew arrives at Buckshaw, the de Luces€ decaying English estate, to shoot a movie starring the famed Phyllis Wyvern. Amid a raging blizzard, the entire village of Bishop€s Lacey gathers at Buckshaw to watch Wyvern perform, yet nobody is prepared for the evening€s shocking conclusion: a body found, past midnight, strangled to death with a length of film. But who among the assembled guests would stage such a chilling scene? As the storm worsens and the list of suspects grows, Flavia must use every ounce of sly wit at her disposal to ferret out a killer hidden in plain sight.