The Feast of Stephen is the second in criminologist Aubert's series featuring Ellis Portal, the disgraced former judge who solved the mystery in her acclaimed 1997 novel Free Reign, which was republished in translation in France, Germany and Japan.

In this new novel, Ellis' old Toronto street friend Queenie tells him of a friend who seemingly has frozen to death in the harsh winter weather before Christmas. Queenie regards the death as suspicious. Ellis remains unconvinced until a second and then a third person die and he realizes all were court "groupies," people who appeared in court every day to watch the proceedings, for a mixture of reasons. Each was found with a verse from the Bible in his or her possession--similar to threatening Bible verses that Ellis himself has begun receiving.

Ellis carries his investigation into the courts and law offices of Toronto, and into a private psychiatric hospital, the streets of the city, and a seedy boardinghouse where he now lives. He discovers all the victims were felled by the poison curare, cleverly administered. As he begins to close in on the killer, Ellis has near-fatal brushes with the poison himself-and the Bible verses continue to appear. Christmas, King Wenceslas and saints' feast days play a part in tracking down the murderer and the motive. Hence the title. The Feast of Stephen is an erudite, clever, puzzle-solving mystery.