Caley James has three children, no money, a derelict house, an irresponsible ex-husband, and the flu. Not only that, but it's Christmas. When the furnace dies during Hampstead, Kansas', longest cold spell ever, she thinks things can't get any worse, but then her youngest child finds the repairman's body in the basement." "The case falls to Chief of Police Susan Wren, whose officers are dropping like flies with the omnipresent flu. As Susan investigates, she learns that the victim, Tim Holiday, had only been in town for three months and no one knows much about him. It is clear from the damage to the victim's face that the killer wanted him unrecognizable, but then Susan discovers that Holiday himself wanted to keep his identity a secret. Just who was Tim Holiday and why was he killed in Caley's basement?" The story rises to a dramatic climax after Caley's oldest son, Zach, stumbles across his father giving a package to another man and becomes determined to uncover the truth.