Marguerite by the Lake

From Mary Dixie Carter comes an atmospheric, tense novel about the death of a wealthy garden designer, her lonely widower, and the scrappy young gardener who smoothly steps into her life.

As every gardener knows, nothing stays buried forever . . .

“A searing contemporary take on Daphne du Maurier’s classic neo-Gothic Rebecca.”—KIRKUS REVIEWS (STARRED REVIEW, “BEST BOOKS OF 2025”)

Marguerite Gray is a lifestyle icon known for her garden parties and high-end business ventures, and for being the muse behind the famous Serge Kuhnert painting Marguerite by the Lake. Her presence is overpowering, her taste, legendary. For the last few years, Phoenix has been the gardener of the famed Rosecliff grounds, home of the Gray family: Marguerite and her husband, Geoffrey. Phoenix came from humble beginnings, and now she works hard to craft the landscape that underpins Marguerite’s brand.

When a storm threatens the launch party for Marguerite’s latest lifestyle book, it’s Phoenix who spots the threat to the guests and rushes to Geoffrey’s side to save him from a falling tree. Geoffrey is grateful—perhaps too grateful. Marguerite is...jealous. Phoenix senses the danger of being drawn deeper into their lives but can’t resist the attention, becoming embroiled in an affair that could destroy her career.

But soon after the affair begins, Marguerite falls to her death—from the same high point at Rosecliff where she posed for Marguerite by the Lake. Now Phoenix has another secret, one that haunts her even as Geoffrey invites her to move into the manor with him. A secret that Detective Rachel Hanna and Marguerite’s daughter, Taylor—her spitting image—are circling closer and closer to uncovering. Phoenix tries to put it all behind her and find her rightful place at Rosecliff, but as she becomes further entangled in their lives, it becomes more difficult to keep the truth from rising to the surface.