Marguerite by the Lake

This shiver-inducing psychological thriller from Carter (The Photographer) follows a gardener who ingratiates herself with a pair of wealthy clients. Phoenix Sullivan trims hedges for Geoffrey and Marguerite Gray at Rosecliff, their palatial Connecticut home. Phoenix’s relationship with the Grays is strictly professional, but that changes during one of popular influencer Marguerite’s parties, when Phoenix rescues Geoffrey from a falling spruce. Soon after, the two end up in bed together. When Marguerite finds out, she tussles with Phoenix at the edge of a nearby cliff and falls to her death. At first, Phoenix conceals her role in Marguerite’s death, enlisting her brother to provide a false alibi. Soon, however, she allows her desire for Geoffrey to overcome her judgment; despite the bad optics, she moves into Rosecliff, leading the police to smell a rat. Meanwhile, Marguerite’s ghost starts to visit Phoenix at all hours. Carter brings readers into Phoenix’s fraying mind, wringing some delightfully gothic fireworks out of her struggle to avoid detection and stake her claim as the new mistress of Rosecliff. The result is a winning homage to Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. (May)