A chilling Gothic tale of warped passion and bizarre murder by the master of the historical whodunit.

Two women: one a vile old bawd, dead, it seemed, of fright; the other, Peg, a headstrong, ravishing young heiress. Their lives are linked by a mysterious portrait and a child's nursery rhyme - a rhyme that spells disgrace and death for the lusty young Peg unless her unwilling lover can trace the connection.

''No one is so consistently successful as Carr'' New York Times Book Review