"No one is better at juggling torches while dancing on a high wire than Elizabeth Peters."--Chicago Tribune

Ellie is young, rich, engaged and in love. In the carefree days before marriage and new responsibility, she decides to house-sit at Aunt Kate's palatial estate in Burton, Virginia. With its nearly invisible housekeepers and the plethora of pets, Ellie feels right at home. But when she opens an antique book about the town's aristocracy, she finds disturbing secrets that extend to her own family.

Suddenly, Ellie's interest in the past is attracting a slew of unwelcome guests--some of them living and some, perhaps not. Unwittingly, she has aroused a terrible vengeance that is now aimed at her.