First published 2023
Delphine arrives at the family mansion in Bar Harbor for what everyone expects will be her grandmother Miriam's final Christmas. The eighty-five-year-old matriarch suffers from dementia, but she still remembers her long-ago lover and their secret meetings across the frozen water. On Christmas Eve, Miriam walks onto the ice surrounding her Maine estate and falls through to her death. When the family learns that Miriam's will leaves nearly everything to Delphine instead of her own children, suspicion falls on the young woman. Her secret relationship with Miriam's aide Adam raises more questions. Delphine faces a house full of potential killers: her bitter uncle Richard, her aunts Theodora and Diana who expected to inherit, and former housekeeper Shelly Dyer who left under mysterious circumstances. To clear her name, Delphine must uncover the truth about both her grandmother's death and the love affair that shaped Miriam's life. Her investigation leads into family secrets and onto dangerous ground.
Genres: suspense, contemporary, mystery-thriller, family-drama
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Bar Harbor, Maine
Period: Christmas
320 pages · Kindle Edition · William Morrow
Content warnings: death