It is December 1884, and we have a murder to solve.

Come, my friend – follow me, for we have much to see this yuletide season.

First, a house: a brand-new country estate, with all the latest technological innovations – electric light-bulbs, running water, dumb-waiters, hydraulic lifts.

Second, a family: celebrated inventor Sir Russell Morgan, his grown-up children, his elegant new wife.

Next, their guests: the great and the good (well, the rich), dressed in all their finery, eager to celebrate Christmas at Clifftop House.

And finally: a body – for what festive mystery would be complete without one? Here lies one of the servants, laid out beneath the Christmas-tree, his hands covered in burns.

The police dismiss his death as an accident, but our heroine, Millie – kitchenmaid and keen reader of sensation novels – is not so sure.

Christmas Day is fast approaching. Can the mystery be solved before the killer strikes again?