Marguerite by the Lake is a psychological suspense novel that promises thrills, tension, and a web of intrigue. Marguerite Gray is a garden designer, author, and owner of the stunning Rosecliff estate. Phoenix, the creative force behind the estate’s breathtaking gardens, becomes entangled with the Gray family after saving her husband during a party. From there, the story spirals into what should be a gripping tale.

On paper, this book has everything: atmosphere, mystery, and an intriguing premise. It feels foreboding and full of potential. But after finishing it, I found myself scratching my head. There’s so much material here, yet none of the plot threads lead to a satisfying resolution. The narrative veers in many directions, but none of them are followed through in a way that feels complete or meaningful.

It’s not easy to write this, but I was left wondering. What was the purpose of all these diverging plotlines? The only reason I finished the book was because the writing maintained a solid sense of suspense throughout. Unfortunately, the ending fell flat, leaving me disappointed.

Thank you to Minotaur Books for the review copy.

Marguerite by the Lake is an very beautifully written story. The scenery itself - a lusciously designed and well maintained garden at the top of a seaside cliff - is brought to life throughout the book. I fell in love more with the gardens than I did with the characters who were a bit too one dimensional for me.

Phoenix, one of the gardeners for this estate, Rosecliff, is living vicariously through those who actually do live in Rosecliff. She fancies herself more important than she actually is, sadly. Until one fateful afternoon when she becomes the hero of the hour during a freak thunderstorm and all eyes are one her. As a result, she begins a rather strange relationship with the owner, Marguerite's, husband.
And this is where the story began to fall apart for me....Sorry.

I do think others will enjoy this book. I've simply become jaded with wealthy people, affairs and the trappings of relationships. I did like the gardens, though.

Marguerite by the Lake by Mary Dixie Carter is an intense, engaging psychological thriller, with a dose of gothic horror.
The main character, Phoenix Sullivan, is a landscape designer working for a firm that serves high-end clients, like wealthy garden “influencer” Marguerite Gray. Unbeknownst to her, her garden plans and ideas feed Gray’s books and business ventures. One day, this house of cards comes crashing down, beginning with a large spruce at the Gray’s home that narrowly misses killing Geoffrey Gray, then progressing to Marguerite’s untimely “accidental” death. Phoenix becomes embroiled in a relationship with Geoffrey Gray, his daughter Taylor despises her, and from this point, Phoenix’s life falls apart.
I liked the plot-driven story, which uses the painting of Marguerite and the gloomy mansion to enhance the narrative of unrelenting tragedy for Phoenix and the Gray family. Unfortunately, said characters were generally unlikeable and not engaging. MC Phoenix started strong, but her poor decision-making and obsession with Geoffrey gave this 36 year-old woman a strangely immature, weak persona, which the reader might pity rather than support.
This is a worthy effort at a psychological thriller with other-worldly overtones. The prose is very readable but the characters were not.
I like Mary Dixie Carter’s first novel, The Photographer, and I will continue to seek out her future works.

Thank you to Minotaur Books for the ARC. This is my honest review.

3 stars

I was intrigued by the plot of this one, but unfortunately I didn’t love the execution. The back and forth between POVs made the story hard to follow at times. Also, I think the label of the genre is a bit confusing. I can see people picking this book up expecting a thriller. This is actually more mystery and domestic suspense than anything else. The pacing was a bit slow and overall the story didn’t keep me fully engaged.

Still, I enjoyed this authors writing and I will try more of her books in the future. Thank you Netgalley and St Martins press for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

Marguerite by the Lake by Mary Dixie Carter was the basic start to an average thriller. I'm not even sure what the suspense/thriller was to make it into that category. The story line wasn't very well developed and there were very few twists and turns. Carter presented so many unclosed loopholes that I wasn't even sure how the story ended. The main suspect's brother was covering for her and kept asking to text/call him but she never did. We never found out why. The detective kept coming around asking questions of the past, but we never knew what was actually founded or the point of the questioning. The brother also forms a quick few pages of the story relationship with the dead owner's daughter, but again, it was left unfinished. Carter started so many new ideas in the story line and never closed on any of them. The dead owner was coming back to life through the painting/house/roses but that was left unanswered too. I could go on for a long time! Very basic writing. Seemed like a middle schooler developed the plot and once they reached the 200 page limit the story ended. Not a very good read.

Thanks to Netgalley for sharing this ARC ebook with me.
I didn't like any of the characters in this story, but the suspense was enough to keep me reading to the end. I did not expect the twists at the end, which was a good thing.

#netgalley #ARC

I only made it a couple chapters in before I decided to stop reading. The writing style just wasn't for me, I found it corny and unrealistic. Thank you so much to Netgalley and St Martins Press for my copy!

Marguerite by the Lake initially seemed to be a mystery novel, but it quickly became more of a character study. Marguerite is a well-known gardening/lifestyle expert and also the subject of a famous painting, titled same as the book. Phoenix is the much younger gardener who is responsible for the beautiful landscapes that Marguerite posts for her many followers. As the book unfolds, mayhem ensues followed by a descent into madness by one of the main characters. I found it difficult to rate this novel as I really didn't care for it, but I also couldn't stop reading it. It seemed somewhat disjointed, but the character development was great. Thank you to Minotaur and Netgalley for the advanced copy.

Mary Dixie Carter’s Marguerite by the Lake drips with atmosphere like fog off the surface of its titular lake. With prose as smooth and cold as still water, Carter crafts a psychological thriller that hums with dread from the first page to the last.

Clearly inspired by Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart, this novel offers a slow spiral into obsession and guilt, with a narrator you trust less and less even as you sink deeper into their mind.

I enjoyed the psychological and paranormal aspects of this book. I wish the characters had been more likable. They were all pretty superficial and selfish. I'm not sure how I feel about the end. It does provoke further thought - so that aspect I do like!

It starts with a tree and a portrait. The famous portrait, Marguerite by the Lake, is that of garden guru Marguerite Gray. The beautiful gardens at her lakeside estate, Rosecliff, are featured on her TV show, in her books and on garden tours. At the launch party of her newest book, Phoenix, a young gardener on the property, notices that an old tree is about to fall and evacuates the guests just before the tent collapses. Her quick actions save many lives, including that of Geoffrey, Marguerite’s husband. Geoffrey and Phoenix grow closer as Marguerite watches suspiciously. Then she mysteriously falls to her death from the cliffs that define the property. Within weeks, Phoenix has moved in to Rosecliff and is planning changes. However, neither Marguerite’s daughter Taylor nor local police Detective Hanna believe that Marguerite’s death was a tragic accident. Her fall and the timing of the new relationship seem too convenient to believe. As the pressure on her mounts, Phoenix avoids the portrait of Marguerite by The Lake. Is her former employer watching her?

Marguerite by the Lake is a tour de force. Atmospheric and suspenseful, it combines mystery, hidden secrets, a police investigation with the supernatural. The main characters - Marguerite, Geoffrey and Phoenix - are deeply flawed and damaged and their story is fueled by envy and class privilege. Marguerite by the Lake is not to be missed. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Mary Dixie Carter for this ARC.

I woke up at 2am the other night and gave this novel a shot, and it was quite a good fit for those bleary, tossy-turny hours. While it lost steam for me in the light of day, I did really enjoy the setting and exploration of class/privilege that was much more complex than most thrillers.

This account of the slow unravelling of the main character into mental darkness is intense and well-written. It's definitely for lovers of dark mysteries--it falls under the 'unreliable narrator' category, which isn't my favorite type unless there are other characters to root for. It's a compelling story for readers who enjoy a dark mystery and don't mind one that doesn't answer all questions by the end and doesn't have a positive outcome for any of the characters. It is excellent of its type; the storyline is intense, the tension constantly ramps up as the story races towards its climax, and it's hard to put down as the narrative twists and turns its way to the conclusion.

Thank you to NetGalley, Mary Dixie Carter, and St. Martin’s Press for the eARC. Marguerite by the Lake is a suspenseful, atmospheric read with a paranormal twist. The eerie lake setting adds to the tension, and the story is full of unexpected twists that kept me hooked. A perfect pick for fans of dark, psychological thrillers.

Phoenix is a gardener with a murky, haunted past. For the past several years, she has worked on the estate of lifestyle influencer Marguerite, who has borrowed heavily from Phoenix's expertise. When Phoenix intervenes to protect Marguerite's husband, Geoffrey, he takes notice of the beautiful young woman. It seems Geoffrey and Marguerite's marriage may not be as picture perfect as Marguerite's instagram posts suggest.

When a tragedy befalls Marguerite, Phoenix worries she is a suspect, even if her relationship with Geoffrey seems to be flourishing. But Phoenix doesn't know who she can trust and her fear becomes overwhelming.

Other reviewers describe this novel as taut and atmospheric, which are certainly apt descriptions. It was impossible to put down, but when I did finish it, I still had unanswered questions. Was the truth about Phoenix's past deliberately kept secret? I kept wanting to know her full back story, which was only hinted at. As a result, the novel felt unfinished. But it is definitely still worth reading, if only for the setting. #MargueritebytheLake #NetGalley

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Minotaur Books for providing this book, with my honest review below.

Marguerite by the Lake is the type of spooky story that, if made into a film, would be one of the superbly done ones from decades back where true psychological suspense was used to far more effective ends than horror. The story quietly creeps up on you and once it’s got you fully ensnared it removes a mask that reveals… nothing. Essentially, what makes this book doubly haunting is that at the end you aren’t sure exactly what will happen with the characters (or even what did happen in some cases), but you’re left with the belief that it won’t be anything good.

The Marguerite in the title is a gardening influencer who has risen to fame using the horticulture knowledge and garden that Phoenix, her staff, has cultivated. When Phoenix and Marguerite’s husband, Geoffrey, get close Marguerite is sure of what’s going on, and when she dies falling over a cliff and her husband promptly moves Phoenix in - everyone else is sure too. But Geoffrey is playing his own game and between Marguerite’s mini me daughter and the suspicion hitting Phoenix from all angles it’s no surprise when she learns that everyone has secrets, and while we never fully learn all of hers we suspect they’re as murky as those around her.

I’m sure I’ll be kept up at night disturbed by the psychological breakdown and the atmosphere in this little poison garden, along with elements of the plot not explained which lend to the suspense. If you like your reads moody, this is a stellar option.

Atmospheric rendition of wealthy garden lifestyle maven, philandering widower and young gardener tangled relationship. Found it to be too much atmosphere and tension that felt flat without enough character development for me to engage with the story for my tastes. Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the advanced reader copy so I could give an honest review.

Phoenix tends the gardens for mega-influencer and lifestyle queen Marguerite Gray—the face of a wildly popular gardening brand who, spoiler alert, never gets actual dirt under her nails. During a glitzy book-launch party, a sudden storm uproots a massive tree. Phoenix spots the danger, saves the day, and instantly catches the eye of Marguerite’s husband, Geoffrey. Cue whirlwind “romance,” scandal, and… that’s where things started to lose me.

This book felt more like a rough outline than a finished novel. Key moments leapfrog with almost zero build-up: the tree falls, Geoffrey sees Phoenix, boom—he’s in love. Two months after Marguerite’s death, he’s moved Phoenix into the house, and they’re both shocked—shocked!—that people might gossip. Scenes jump abruptly (one paragraph she’s filming the woods, the next she’s magically in the kitchen), and plot threads dangle without resolution. I kept feeling yanked out of the story, muttering, “Wait, what…?”

With fuller character development and smoother transitions, this could have been an edge-of-your-seat domestic suspense. As is, it reads clunky and improbable—more “first draft” than polished thriller. I found myself filling in gaps and wishing for the richer detail that would’ve made the twists land.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I found this read to be a struggle. I didn't find any characters likeable. I'm also not 100% sure what I read, I didn't really get it. I know Phoenix was paranoid, but...then what...was she psychotic? Not sure. The chapters were also crazy long...hour long to be accurate. There was also WAY too much about flowers and gardening. I get Phoenix is a self taught botanist, but dang.

I'm sorry but this so missed the mark for me :/

https://onereadingnurse.com/2025/05/24/book-review-marguerite-by-the-lake-by-mary-dixie-carter/

There is also an Instagram post incoming...

The review:

Thanks so much to Minotaur Books for the early digital copy of Marguerite by the Lake by Mary Dixie Carter! I had read her first book, The Photographer, and was invited to review this book which is now out in the world as of this week.

I honestly have mixed feelings. There are many things that Carter does well and then other aspects leave much to be desired. Unfortunately the early GoodReads rating is only 3.26 out of 289 ratings, and I do believe the book falls into the three star range for me as well.

Let’s start with the positives. I actually enjoyed reading Marguerite because I’m a fan of gardening, which there is a lot of, and I liked the constantly tense atmosphere where Marguerite’s presence continued to torment our main character. I think Carter is good at creating a fast paced mystery and I was always curious what would happen next.

I was a little bit shocked by the … anticlimax? I feel like the entire book needed a bit more fleshing out, but it definitely needed one more chapter to give everything a bit of closure. The main character and the “love interest”, and the brother all felt like they had storylines going that were never really wrapped up to any kind of satisfaction. Maybe my biggest gripe is that there are a lot of potential plot threads mentioned that were never followed up on.

I loved the supernatural vs mental health/delusion elements but could have used more from that area too. Phoenix was definitely mentally ill (and if she wasn’t supposed to be… well… then none of her actions or thought processes once she starts her affair are believable).

Also some of the scene to scene transitions and flashbacks felt disjointed. Overall though with those negatives out of the way, I like MDC’s writing style. I like the gardening elements (as an amateur gardener) and liked watching everyone’s lives fall apart. I do kind of think that since we already had the answer to the who dunnit, maybe a little more from the investigation and case would have been good too?

Hmmm but yeah I can relate to trusting someone and then finding yourself in too deep to want to step away again, even when things get shady. I needed more from the grandmother story too! I think with a bit more closure to many different story elements (and this is a shorter book, she could have afforded the page space) it would have been a great great book. She excels as a descriptive writer but this story ended up feeling disjointed.

I will still keep reading her stories since they’re addictive while going, although I’d recommend The Photographer (which I loved) over Marguerite.