Dust to Dust

A grisly murder at a historic Beaux Arts hotel sets the stage for a mesmerizing mystery, tailor-made for fans of Lyndsay Faye.

Hotel 1911 embodies the essence of early-20th century charm. But the Beaux Arts mansion also harbors closets full of deadly secrets. The Pittsburgh chapter of the National Association for Gravestone Studies is checking in for their national conference, intent on examining the historic graves thought to be on the hotel grounds. The only problem is, there are no graves--or at least none that anyone can find.

When one of the Association members is found strangled to death the police point the finger at the hotel's loyal butler, Mr. Fig. But Ivy Nichols, a hotel clerk whose family once owned the mansion, has other ideas. She believes that Mr. Fig is innocent, and desperately wants to prove it. But when she learns that the statues in the back garden do, indeed, mark the graves of her family members, a more sinister picture begins to emerge. Could there be a connection between the murder and Ivy's shadowy family history? Who else on the hotel grounds had the opportunity to commit the crime? And is Mr. Fig all he seems to be?

Amidst a growing list of suspects, and a freak snowstorm that blinds the landscape, Ivy is in a race to catch a killer--and untangle a truth darker than she could have imagined.