It's the season of peace and goodwill, but a Victorian Christmas is no holiday for the world's most popular detective in this new book from Bonnie MacBird, author of the bestselling Sherlock Holmes novel Art in the Blood. It's Christmas 1890, and games are afoot. In a packed Oxford Street, a man tries to kidnap a young woman's child, but Holmes and Watson leap to their rescue and the assailant escapes empty handed. Who would do such a thing? And more importantly - will he strike again?

From the depths of London's workhouses to the pinnacle of a glittering Christmas Eve party in Mayfair, this is to be a Christmas that will require not only Holmes's celebrated scientific method, but also the bravery for which he and Watson are renowned. And the final solution will demand something more from the Great Detective - something Watson has never before observed in his friend.