In "Sleep in Heavenly Peace," a professor of botany and crop cultivation discovers the body of his neighbor under the Christmas tree. He does not believe in a natural death and begins investigating in his immediate surroundings at Balaclava College. The perpetrator better brace themselves: with scientific precision and his own sharp wit, the professor tackles the murder case. That chaos also reigns elsewhere during the festival of love is shown in "Cod and Caviar": the very elite club of the Sociable Cod holds its annual Christmas party. After a valuable ceremonial chain goes missing, no less than three members of Boston's upper class die. To make matters worse, the noble caviar appears to have been poisoned.