1862. The penniless owner of a château in the Sarthe region invites a few friends and important figures to spend Christmas at his large estate. To entertain his guests and offer them an inexpensive gift, he asks one of his friends, the director of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, to send him some students to paint portraits of his hosts.

The man finds two young, penniless painters who are willing to help: a certain Claude Monet and his friend Pierre-Auguste Renoir. But on Christmas Eve, a murder is committed. The two friends, who had been observing the guests closely and listening to their conversations, decided to try to unmask the murderer. It wasn’t that they had detective skills, but among this close-knit bourgeois crowd, they were the black sheep and it wasn’t long before they became suspects.

Renoir and Monet have no choice. While waiting for the police and the prosecutor to arrive, who have been sent for despite the raging snowstorm, they will have to solve the case to clear their names.

Léonie Vilbert is the pseudonym of a French crime novelist who divides his time between Sarthe, Paris, and the rest of the world. He is the author of three multi-award-winning crime novels in large format.