A Christmas-themed romance novella by KJ Charles, something of a sequel to Any Old Diamonds and Gilded Cage.
Hotel detective John Garland is spending Christmas sacked, broken-hearted, and hellbent on bringing comeuppance to the man he considers responsible for both. Barnaby Littimer must be in league with the jewel thief who struck while Barnaby had John conveniently...distracted...in a closet, mustn't he? And now that he's been hired to run Christmas festivities for John's holiday-loving uncle, he's clearly up to something else nefarious.
Except maybe everything's not as it seems. Between obnoxious Christmas guests, a surfeit of holiday cheer, and his inconvenient feelings for Barnaby, will John be able to figure out what's really going on? And will they be able to save themselves from a very un-festive danger?
- Bait-and-Switch: When John goes to his cousin Ivy for some dirt on the odious Lord Sidney, she says Sidney is one of her husband's best friends and asks if John is looking to cause him trouble by asking for sordid gossip. Then she adds that she hates Sidney because he's a "parasitic slug" and that she's already planning to toss him out of their social circle the second she's legally a Countess, so if John gets rid of him she'll consider it a wedding present.
- Character Overlap: There are some rumblings that the latest run of jewel thefts are the Lilywhite Boys coming out of retirement, and John mentions that the hotel was once robbed by them (due to making the unfortunate mistake of opening and closing their safe in front of a disguised Jerry). Susan Lazarus also comes up in passing. And of course Jerry himself is on the scene for a little holiday mayhem.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Even though there's a perfectly good baritone already on staff at Codlin Hall, a man John doesn't recognize is singing in the choir instead of him. A man with particularly interesting eyebrows. Turns out it's none other than Jerry Crozier, who is not best pleased that a second-rate copycat is trying to pretend he's the Lilywhite Boys.
- Everyone Has Standards: While Ivy has no objection to transactional marriages, being about to make one herself, she finds the spurious-divorce-and-remarriage scheme Sidney is helping his friends with repellent, as their intended new spouses are too young and naive to understand what they're getting involved with.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Or rather, selfish Jerkass cannot comprehend an honorable man. Lord Sidney went to enormous lengths to discredit and even try to kill John, because as part of his job, John saw something that would ruin all of the said villain's careful plans, and he just doesn't believe in John's strict adherence to client confidentiality. Even after being fired and learning about the murder attempt (not to mention being deliberately hit in the head with a wooden broadsword), John is still reluctant to break the code.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Everything "Captain Algy" does in the service of his plans (to get money, marry rich, and not get caught) works in the short term, but in the long term rebounds back on him. Drag Barnaby into his schemes? Now there's a witness who knows what he looks like. Attempt to murder and then disgrace John? Now John is no longer employed by the hotel and has a very good reason to make an exception to client confidentiality, which he would otherwise never do. Spread rumors that his thefts are the return of the Lilywhite Boys to deflect suspicion? Well, the Lilywhite Boys don't like having their name taken in vain.
- Nobility Marries Money: John's Uncle Abel is an enormously rich steel magnate, and his daughter Ivy is marrying the Earl of Dombey, exchanging her huge dowry for a coronet and title. The titled guests at the Christmas party are very snide about this (while enjoying Abel's generous hospitality to the hilt, naturally).
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Even though it only happened once and not even during an actual robbery, everyone remembers the Lilywhite Boys for throwing a guy out a window.
- Overly Narrow Superlative: John and Ivy call each other "best of cousins". They're also each other's only cousins (although by the end of the story it's more sincere).
- Poor Communication Kills: A large amount of heartache comes from the fact that Barnaby was too ashamed and terrified to explain to John what was really going on, so decided to keep him out of danger by seducing him instead. Justified, as Barnaby was very much in over his head and panicking.
- Upper-Class Twit: These abound at the party. One guest is nicknamed "Guppy" both for his lack of wit and grace and his unfortunate resemblance to one, while Dombey is thicker than a block and doesn't realize that Lord Sidney is a Jerkass who's only friends with him to leech off his fortune. (Although to his credit, Dombey's at least bright enough to understand that Ivy should be in charge of their finances.)
