A Christmas homecoming

the long version

1897. Caroline Fielding and her husband Joshua, a noted actor and director of plays, agree to perform an amateur dramatisation of Dracula over the Christmas period in exchange for the financial backing of Charles Netheridge, their new benefactor. As Joshua's company assembles at Netheridge's house in atmospheric Whitby and begins its preparations, a stranger with an intimate knowledge of the novel arrives, asking for shelter from the growing snow storms outside. And as the players learn more about one another and intriguing secrets begin to emerge, the dark nightmares of Dracula are played out off stage as well as on. Who exactly has Netheridge invited into his home? And when one person's life is taken, can the culprit be found before the snow melts?