Product Description: Laura Lippman crafts a brilliant new stand-alone novel featuring a suburban madam, a convicted murderer whose sentence is about to be overturned, and the secret that threatens to shatter several lives. Heloise thought she was safe...read more

A mysterious stranger carrying a backpack containing a notebook and eleven gold bars arrives in the remote mountain village of Viscos, searching for the answer to a question that torments him: are human beings, in essence, good or evil?

In this modern twist on Rear Window, Tess Monaghan has been put on bed rest for the last two months of her pregnancy. Day after day she watches a girl in a green raincoat in the park with her greyhound, until one day Tess ominously notices the dog running loose. Convinced some harm has befallen its owner, Tess becomes dangerously obsessed with learning the girl's fate.

Years ago, they were all the best of friends. But as time passed and circumstances changed, they grew apart, became adults with families of their own, and began to forget about the past-and the terrible lie they all shared. But now Gordon, the youngest and wildest of the five, has died and the others are thrown together for the first time in years. And then the revelations start. Could their long-ago lie be the reason for their troubles today? Is it more dangerous to admit to what they've done or is it the strain of keeping the secret that is beginning to wear on them and everyone close to them? Each one of these old friends has to wonder if their secret has been discovered-and if someone within the circle is out to destroy them.

Returning to his beloved home at Mount Vernon after leaving the post of the first presidency, George Washington finds his marriage with Martha, marked by occasional conflict, renewing to the levels of deep love they experienced as newlyweds.