"At the Royal Karnak Palace Hotel, under the hot Saharan sun, Maggie Burkhardt has a comfortable suite, a loyal confidant in the hotel manager, Ahmed, and a handful of sympathetic friends, other 'long-termers' like herself who understand her deep grief for her late husband, Peter. In this luxury hotel on the banks of the Nile, Maggie is merely the sweet old lady in Room 309. 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 somber 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"-- Dust jacket flap.
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