Adam Traywick may be capable of both.

In this celebrated gothic romance, will Miranda be the next victim of Barrett's Hill?

When her father's will sends strong-willed, irreverent Miranda to the New England estate of nearby Barrett's Hill to live under the guardianship of her elder cousin-the sour Reverend Smathers-and his scheming family, trouble quickly brews.

Two decades earlier a murder took place on Barrett's Hill, and the suspects are few. Miranda's spirited investigation raises the fear of public scandal among her hypocritical relatives-the Reverend's alcoholic wife and viciously manipulative daughter-especially since the suspects are the Reverend, his toadying assistant Fathimore, Miranda's own father, and the darkly irresistible Adam Traywick.

Adam turns his masterful charms on Miranda, and she falls in love. Yet as it becomes clear she's provoked the killer's survival instincts, with herself his target, she can't help wondering if Adam is seducing her or planning her murder.