Book overview
Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Mystery
Mindy McGinnis, the acclaimed author of Not a Drop to Drink and In a Handful of Dust, combines murder, madness, and mystery in a beautifully twisted gothic historical thriller perfect for fans of novels such as Asylum and The Diviners as well as television's True Detective and American Horror Story.
Grace Mae is already familiar with madness when dark family secrets and the bulge in her belly send her to a Boston insane asylum--but it is in the darkness that she finds a new lease on life. When a visiting doctor interested in 19th-century criminal psychology recognizes Grace's brilliant mind beneath her rage, he recruits her as his assistant. Continuing to operate under the cloak of madness at crime scenes allows her to gather clues from bystanders who believe her less than human. Now comfortable in an ethical asylum, Grace finds friends--and hope. But gruesome nights bring Grace and the doctor into the circle of a killer who will bring her shaky sanity and the demons in her past dangerously close to the surface.
- Gothic Historical Thriller: Step into the grim wards of a 19th-century asylum, where a brilliant young woman must feign madness to survive--and solve a crime.
- Early Criminal Profiling: Watch as Grace uses her sharp intellect to analyze gruesome crime scenes, pioneering a new science to hunt a killer who preys on the vulnerable.
- A Haunting Murder Mystery: As Grace and the doctor get closer to the truth, the investigation forces Grace to confront the horrifying demons of her own past.
- Strong Female Lead: Trapped by family secrets but armed with a brilliant mind, Grace Mae discovers her own power in the darkest of places.
