A Little Arsenic Goes A Long Way. In fact, a single arsenic-sprinkled hors d'oeuvre, eaten at her friend Sal's bookstore opening, almost sends Clara Gamadge to her grave a week before Christmas. Luckily she makes it to the hospital instead, thoroughly baffled by the attempt to kill her. The troops rally 'round her bed -- son Henry, daughter Paula, faithful cousin Sadd -- but are hardly a match for the recklessly bold villain they know is the poisoner...and who almost certainly will strike again. In this deadly game of cat and mouse, Santa himself seems to have abandoned the good guys, until Clara's tough sleuthing draws reinforcements from a most surprising source.