'Clever, cunning, and diabolical in the best possible way. Anyone longing for a good old-fashioned thrill need look no further' Ann Patchett Celebrated, bestselling, elusive...who is Maud Dixon? Florence Darrow wants to be a writer. Correction: Florence Darrow IS going to be a writer. Fired from her first job in publishing, she jumps at the chance to be assistant to the celebrated Maud Dixon, the anonymous bestselling novelist. The arrangement comes with conditions - high secrecy, living in an isolated house in the countryside . Before long, the two of them are on a research trip to Morocco, to inspire the much-promised second novel. Beach walks, red sunsets and long, whisky-filled evening discussions...win-win, surely? Until Florence wakes up in a hospital, having narrowly survived a car crash. How did it happen - and where is Maud Dixon, who was in the car with her? Florence feels she may have been played, but wait, if Maud is no longer around, maybe Florence can make her mark as a writer after all... 'Stylish, sharp, with wicked hairpin turns...pure fun' Maria Semple