Maternal Instinct

Althea Deming has spent her years as a widow making her own decisions, but since her husband Robert died, her control has slipped away. Under the terms of his will, the house and everything else that was once hers now belong to her stepson Hal and his wife Grace, who have moved in with their daughter. Althea is left with a few rooms that feel more like a guest's quarters than a home, and she must live with the change under the same roof as the people who now hold her future.

Grace never wanted to relocate her family to look after a difficult mother-in-law, but she has resolved to make the arrangement work for the sake of her daughter Shyla. The new house is large and the neighborhood is prestigious, and Grace can tolerate Althea's coldness. What troubles her more is how warmly everyone else regards Althea: her husband, the neighbors, and even Shyla, who was once a bright and cheerful girl and is now a faint version of her former self. Grace begins to wonder what is wrong with her own distrust of Althea.

Grace's instincts tell her that Althea is dangerous, and that if she fails to protect her family from Althea's influence, she may come to regret it. This is a domestic suspense novel by Becky Masterman, the author of the Brigid Quinn series, and it follows the tension that builds when a family's trust is tested from within the home.