From New York Times bestselling author Peter Swanson comes a fantastically creepy holiday story of a writer tasked with helping a famous novelist finish his next book—only, when two dead bodies turn up at the seaside manor, he must uncover the killer before the clock ticks down to Christmas Day.

When author Nicholas Child is dropped by his publisher, his agent sends him to spend the holidays at the Cape Cod mansion of her other client, the famed Marco Tavares. Marco needs to finish the long-overdue follow-up to his bestselling novel, and Nicholas is going to help him.

But when Nicholas arrives at Marco’s sprawling seaside estate, which is decked out in twinkling lights and a towering Christmas tree, he finds himself in the middle of a gathering where holiday cheer is in short supply—and every visitor seems to have a motive to kill their host.

Along with Marco and his wife Maeve—who are currently sleeping in separate rooms—also present is Marco’s oddball sister, near-silent grandmother, ex-girlfriend and her jealous husband, and long-suffering best friend, Billy Sousa. The most intriguing guest is named James Beers, another writer who believes that Marco’s bestselling novel was based on one of his ideas.

As Christmas Day approaches, a single boozy night culminates in two corpses, and Nicholas becomes convinced that the whole thing was a setup from the start. Can he uncover the truth before the killer strikes again?