Poison Lilies: A Riveting Sequel about Dark Secrets, Deadly Consequences, and an Unstoppable Female Investigator in the Heart of Ottawa (Gus Monet

Poison Lilies: A Riveting Sequel about Dark Secrets, Deadly Consequences, and an Unstoppable Female Investigator in the Heart of Ottawa (Gus Monet

“Moody and riveting.” — New York Times Book Review , Editor’s Choice In this eerily riveting thriller—the follow-up to the international bestseller Dark August —Gus Monet becomes dangerously entangled with a powerful family whose wealth and success are built on dark and deadly secrets. After moving back to her hometown and solving her mother's murder, Augusta (Gus) Monet thought she was finally settled. Content for the first time in her life. Done with digging into the past. But it’s not to be. Cue hard reset number whatever. When Gus makes a mistake she can’t undo, she does the only thing she can: cuts and runs. Packs all her things in the dead of night and takes off. Gus lands at The Ambassador Court, an art-deco apartment building with cheap rent in one of Ottawa’s oldest neighborhoods where no one knows her. The perfect place for a fresh start—or at least a good place to hide. She soon meets Poppy Honeywell, her reclusive elderly neighbor who wanders about in a pink kimono like an aging Hollywood starlet and who happens to be a descendant of the Mutchmores, one of the city's founding families. When a body emerges from an icy pond in a nearby park, Gus’s growing curiosity with Poppy and her influential family suddenly takes a perilous turn with deadly consequences.  The Mutchmores have been hiding a treacherous secret for decades—one they are willing to sacrifice anything—and anyone—to keep buried. Little do they know, that’s just the kind of secret Gus can’t resist. “ Dark August is a tightly-paced cauldron of a thriller about small town corruption, murder and mayhem, in the vein of Sharp Objects and All The Missing Girls . A macabre and confidently twisty debut.” - Lisa Gabriele, internationally bestselling author of The Winters, on DARK AUGUST “What elevates Tallo’s galloping story is the freshness of the writing, and the deep explorations of character. An imaginative thriller—as much about family, loss, greed, and a young woman’s attempt to find a place in the world, as it is about solving a long-buried mystery.” - Peter Heller, New York Times bestselling author of The Dog Stars, nationally bestselling author of The Painter, Celine, and The River on DARK AUGUST “Truly inspired piece of writing. . . . A mystery of epic proportions. . . . Highly recommended for mystery fans, as well as devotees of Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro.” - Booklist (starred review) on DARK AUGUST “An engrossing mystery. . . . Distinctive characters and an intricate plot will keep readers turning the pages. Tallo is off to a promising start.” - Publishers Weekly on DARK AUGUST “In this epic mystery-thriller combo, no one is to be trusted as Gus uncovers long-buried secrets . . . all packed with small town corruption and murder.” - Parade on DARK AUGUST “Plucky heroines make me queasy. (It takes so much energy to be plucky.) The protagonist of Katie Tallo's first novel, Dark August , is better than that . . . it's easy to get caught up in this story.” - New York Times Book Review on DARK AUGUST “Moody and riveting.” - New York Times Book Review, Editor’s Choice "An exhilarating, frenzied ride of violence and betrayal; when I finished, I just wanted to read another Gus Monet novel." - New York Times "The follow-up to  Dark August  seamlessly weaves in threads from the first book and adeptly takes a century-old crime into the present." - Library Journal Katie Tallo has been an award-winning screenwriter and director for more than three decades. After winning an international contest for unpublished fiction, she began writing novels, including Dark August and Poison Lilies . She has a daughter and lives with her husband in Ottawa, Ontario.