Advent Book Quiz - Day 3

Day three of our Advent Book Quiz

Identify author and title and post in the comments. Entries close 1st January 2014. Winner, and answers, will be revealed 3rd January 2014. 

Good luck!

I awoke in the middle of the night. I thought I had heard sleigh bells somewhere far away, as in the background of Christmas music. 

Sleigh bells? 

I sat up on the sofa and felt for my watch on the coffee table. The luminous hands showed 1.30. I must have slept more soundly than I had expected to. I sat still and listened hard, but the only sound I could hear was the faint, dry thumping of my own heart. Maybe I had imagined the sleigh bells. Maybe I had been dreaming, after all. I decided, nevertheless, to check the house. I stepped into my slippers and padded into the kitchen. The sound grew more distinct when I left the room. It really did sound like sleigh bells, and it seemed to be coming from Cinnamon's office. I stood by the door for a while, listening, then gave a knock. Cinnamon might have come back to the Residence while I was sleeping. But there was no answer. I opened the door a crack and looked inside.