It's 1953, and Harvard grad Simon Putnam is hired by a New York publisher to edit a novel based on the recent trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. But the book is a lurid bodice-ripper, and worse, Simon can't let on that his mother was Ethel's childhood friend. Things get thornier when he meets the author, seductive Anya Partridge, ensconced in her boudoir in a posh mental asylum. Simon soon realizes that the people around him are keeping secrets, and ordinary events may obscure a diabolical plot, in this twisty tale by the author of Blue Angel.

"Prose's exuberant, lighthearted novel immerses the reader in 1950s ambiance, yet it's full of winks and nods to the current political climate…. What a delightful read!"—Library Journal