Scapegrace. Rogue. Reprobate. Cad. Winifred Osbourne has spent the last ten years avoiding Benjamin Hadleigh, scum of the earth, at all costs. Yet by some strange twist of fate, she finds herself snowed in with him - and a murderer - for Christmas.
It's 1890, and twenty-seven year old British spinster Winifred Osbourne has built a successful career and life as an artist in Paris. Reeling from the loss of her beloved grandfather, the man who raised her and showed her the world, she returns to England for her first Christmas in ten years. Her dreams of a cozy house party with just a few close friends are shattered, however, by the appearance of Lord Benjamin Hadleigh: her former neighbor, disastrous first love, and - most shockingly - ex-husband.
Their quickly-annulled marriage has been kept a secret for nearly a decade, and Winnie has managed to avoid him for just as long. Hadleigh is at the house party in his role as a government operative, on the hunt for a man suspected of blackmailing a member of the royal family. Winifred vows to ignore Hadleigh until she can flee back to Paris - until a guest at the house party is killed and only Winnie knows what poisoned him. Someone they're snowed in with is a murderer, and Winnie is forced to work together with Hadleigh to find the killer before they strike again. It's a race against time to find evidence of murder and blackmail, and every guest at the party seems to have secrets of their own - secrets that someone is willing to kill again to protect.