It's Christmastime in Stone's Throw, S.C., and amid all the caroling, cooking and cheer, a murderer casts a not-so-jolly pall on the festivities. Did a grieving ghost push an itinerant stranger from the balcony at Willowbrook, the family's deserted estate? And who was responsible for the dreadful happening during choir rehearsal?
 
Augusta Goodnight dispenses her no-nonsense advice along with the Yuletide wassail when she comes to the aid of her charge, Lucy Nan Pilgrim, and the Thursday Morning Literary Society (which now meets on Monday afternoons.)