Detective Jonathan Stride's first wife, Cindy, died of cancer eight years ago, but her ghost hangs over Stride's relationship with current lover, and fellow detective, Serena Dial. When Serena witnesses a brutal murder outside a Duluth bar, she stumbles onto a case with roots that go all the way back to the last year of Cindy Stride's life.

It's mid-December and for the fifth year, at the Sullivans' lonely brownstone in Harlem, stockings go un-stuffed, tinsel un-strewn, gifts un-bought, mistletoe un-hung, chestnuts un-roasted, carols un-played, cookies un-cooked and a tree un-visible. But this year, a mysterious someone is sending gifts to widower Henry Sullivan and his two children, Will and Ella. These gifts are... strange. Noisy. And there's no returning them. First, a small beaked...