From the bestselling author of A Beautiful Poison comes a
spellbinding historical mystery about hidden identities, wartime
paranoia, and the tantalizing power of deceit.
Brooklyn, 1942. War rages overseas as brother and sister Will and Maggie
Scripps contribute to the war effort stateside. Ambitious Will secretly
scouts for the Manhattan Project while grief-stricken Maggie works at
the Navy Yard, writing letters to her dead mother between shifts.
But the siblings' quiet lives change when they discover a beautiful
woman hiding under their back stairs. This stranger harbors an obsession
with poisons, an affection for fine things, and a singular talent for
killing small creatures. As she draws Will and Maggie deeper into her
mysterious past, they both begin to suspect she's quite dangerous--all
while falling helplessly under her spell.
With whispers of spies in dark corners and the world's first atomic bomb
in the works, the visitor's sudden presence in Maggie's and Will's lives
raises questions about who she is and what she wants. Is this mysterious
woman someone they can trust--or a threat to everything they hold dear?