"All her life Amy had suffered from claustrophobia. Yet here she was, shut in a darkened building with a man who might be a murderer, and who was certainly armed with a knife. . ." Amy Gough takes a temporary Christmas job as cook to an elderly couple in a quiet country village, but within a few days two people die violent deaths. Reluctantly, Amy finds herself at the center of the action, with he friend Inspector Stephen Thorne increasingly dependent on her sharp eyes and keen judgment.