Colonel de Luz, trying to make ends meet, rents out Buxhow so a film can be shot there. The lead role is played not just by a star, but by a legend—the public favorite Phyllis Weivern. However, not even two days pass from the arrival of the film crew when the sharp-eyed Flavia finds the corpse of Miss Weivern...
The suspects number several dozen people—snowfall has locked them up in Buxhow all night. And while the clumsy police take fingerprints and conduct interrogations methodically, Flavia de Luz will penetrate the actress’s deepest secrets and find the murderer, all the while planning an operation to capture Santa Claus—preparing the largest fireworks display in Buxhow’s history—and uncovering new skeletons in the past of her eccentric family.