From the author of Doll Parts comes a riveting suspense injected with the gothic presence of Edgar Allen Poe and Shirley Jackson, perfect for fans of Long Bright River, Bright Young Women, and The Last House on Needless Street.

Let me tell you a story about sisters.

Baltimore, 1985. Mad is still processing the night her father disappeared. Before, she and her sister Annabel lived alone above Goldie's, the family bar, where they spent their nights listening to Blondie, reading Edgar Allen Poe, and dreaming of unsure futures. Now that it's clear he's never returning, Annabel has become reclusive, neighbors have started spreading damaging rumors about the family, and Mad is struggling to keep Goldie's afloat. When a photo makes it look like there's a ghost in the upstairs window of the bar, the sisters decide to make up a haunting tale based on none other than Poe to put them back on the map. Because who can resist a good bar story, especially a haunted one?

But as news of their fabricated story spreads, Annabel suddenly goes missing. And she isn't the only person to disappear. A killer is prowling the streets, one who leaves a calling card every time a body is found: dead roses and bottle of sherry, the same gift the infamous Baltimore Poe Toaster leaves every year at the poet's grave.

Did their fake ghost story draw the attention of a murderer, and could their missing father somehow be involved? As Mad races the clock to find her sister, she'll have to confront the haunting corners of the world she thought she knew, before it all goes up in flames.