One little Christmas party.

Sounds harmless, except Dr. Hope Sze feels raw and unsociable at the moment.

Still, Hope looks forward to the home-cooked Middle Eastern meal. And she really ought to socialize with her new colleagues from Ottawa’s stem cell research team, even if it means cheering on the Senators hockey team or dancing to “Uptown Funk” with people she barely knows.

Then one of the guests collapses at the dinner table.

Another one drops the wine.

Who poisoned a tableful of Ph.D.’s?

And can Hope save their lives and solve this mystery before the holiday cheer of this Blue Christmas becomes a fatal festivity?

Originally published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.

Inspired by a true case, as described in the accompanying essay by the author.

This story unfolds shortly after the events in Human Remains (Hope Sze #5), but can be read independently. Many AHMM readers first met Hope through “Blue Christmas,” including @dimesleuth, who who tweeted it out while eating chicken tortilla soup.

PRAISE FOR THE HOPE SZE SERIES

#1 Mystery Selection—CBC Books, on Human Remains. Recommended authors also include Louise Penny and Maureen Jennings

“[A] scarier-than-ever medical mystery,” Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail, naming Human Remains one of the best Canadian suspense books

One of the best crime novels of the season. CBC’s The Next Chapter Mystery Panel, on Stockholm Syndrome