First published 1998
Rose Miller has built what looks like a perfect life. She writes bestselling novels, lives in a beautiful country mansion, and enjoys marriage to a wealthy husband eyeing the governor's office. Their daughter Alexis completes the picture. Then the roses arrive. Blood red petals accompany threatening messages that reference secrets Rose believed she had buried forever. The stalker could be anyone. Dario, her publicist, has developed an obsessive crush. Dimitri, her former lover turned hotel magnate, might want revenge. Even her father-in-law James Miller harbors dark motives to guard family secrets. Rose turns to detective John Falcone for help. He discovers a pattern of threats and violence surrounding the celebrity author and her powerful family. When Rose's best friend dies in a murder that mirrors a scene from one of Rose's own books, the investigation takes a sinister turn. Rose fights to protect Alexis while old hatreds and new rivalries close in around them.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: deception, enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Country Mansion
320 pages · Hardcover · Crown
Content warnings: violence