At a party in Manhattan, Maggie Holloway—one of the fashion world’s most successful photographers—is thrilled to be reunited with her beloved stepmother. A widow now, Nuala Moore is equally delighted to see her long-lost stepdaughter, and she invites Maggie to spend a few weeks at her home in Newport, Rhode Island. But when Maggie arrives, she finds Nuala murdered, apparently by a burglar. Heartbroken, Maggie is stunned to learn she had inherited Nuala’s stunning Victorian home...and horrified when she begins to suspect that Nuala’s death was not random, but part of a diabolical plot conceived by a twisted mind.