"Phyllis Whitney is, and always will be, the Grand Master of her craft." Barbara Michaels Carol Hamilton is terrified of her ex-husband, a wealthy and powerful man who will stop at nothing to take their son away from her. To escape him, Carol seeks refuge at the Palm Springs home of her great-aunt, Monica Arlen, a once-celebrated movie star. While under her spell, Carol, a journalist, decides to write a book about Monica. What she doesn't realize, though, is that digging into the past is going to break open old and terrible secrets that set the stage for murder....
Author
Phyllis Ayame Whitney (1903 – 2008) was an American mystery writer. Rare for her genre, she wrote mysteries for both the juvenile and the adult markets, many of which feature exotic locations. A review in The New York Times once dubbed her "The Queen of the American Gothics". She was born in Japan to American parents and spent her early years in Asia. Whitney wrote more than seventy novels. In 1961, her book The Mystery of the Haunted Pool won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Juvenile novel, and she duplicated the honor in 1964, for The Mystery of the Hidden Hand. In 1988, the MWA gave her a Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement. Whitney died of pneumonia on February 8, 2008, aged 104.
