At the Royal Karnak Palace Hotel on the banks of the Nile, Maggie Burkhardt is known as the sweet old lady in Room 309, a widow suffering deep grief for her late husband, Peter. Maggie has come to the Royal Karnak to escape. But not in quite the same way as most other guests who are staying here during the waning days of the pandemic. A compulsive meddler, Maggie may have found herself in hot water at her last hotel in Switzerland and she just might have needed to get out of the country fast . . . but all that’s behind her. That is, until one morning when she notices a new arrival at check-in: a young American woman named Tess and her impish eight-year-old son, Otto. Eager to help, Maggie invites them into her world. Soon, Maggie realizes that in her longing to be a part of their family, she has let in a cunning enemy who might lead to her undoing. In scrawny Otto, Maggie Burkhardt has finally met her match. A propulsive, wicked, addictively readable breakout from the “modern master of