This Rough Magic

by Mary Stewart

First published 1992

Lucy Waring came to Corfu for a quiet vacation, hoping to escape the pressures of her struggling acting career. The Greek island seems like the perfect retreat until she witnesses something terrible: the murder of a celebrated English theater star. What should have been a peaceful getaway transforms into a deadly game of cat and mouse. Lucy finds herself drawn into a web of secrets and lies that threatens her own life. The killer knows she saw what happened, and the beautiful island becomes a trap. She must navigate treacherous relationships and hidden motives while staying one step ahead of danger. As Lucy digs deeper into the theater world's dark underbelly, she discovers that fame and success often mask deadly rivalries. The stakes rise with each revelation, forcing her to rely on her wits and courage to survive. This deadly offstage drama will test everything she thought she knew about trust, ambition, and survival.

Genres: adventure, mystery, contemporary, thriller

Vibes: atmospheric, fast-paced, suspenseful

Tropes: cat-and-mouse, fish-out-of-water, secrets-and-lies

Setting: Corfu, Greece

Period: 20th-century

493 pages · school binding · MacMillan Publishing Company

Content warnings: murder, violence

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