And for PC Hamish Macbeth there''s no holiday from crime

• •he finds himself hunting for a missing cat belonging to a lonely spinster. Curt and unfriendly, the woman is convinced her pet has been stolen but once behind her heavily-bolted door, Hamish can spot her true problem
• •she lives in fear, though of who or what he cannot guess. Then someone steals a Christmas tree and lights from the nearby village of Cnothan. So it is up to Hamish to sort all these problems out
• •and he had better do it quickly, for the church bells will soon peal on the eve of Christmas.