Ex-Atlanta cop-turned-house-cleaning entrepreneur Callahan Garrity doesn’t know what she is getting for Xmas, but she never expects the present that arrives at her door: her estranged, ne’er-do-well brother, Brian, and his adorable three-year-old child, Maura. A rebel who’s been in and out of difficulty most of his lifestyle, Brian’s deep in it right now since he illegally abducted Maura from under the nose of his shrewish former wife.

When the beautiful child’s mother is available murdered, the police arrive looking for Brian. And today, to save her sibling and her vacation, Callahan — along with her irascible mom, Edna, and a gaggle of House Mouse employees — must uncover the truth and a killer, even if it means digging round the origins of her own family tree and revealing the rot underneath.