The Black Orchid: A Novel

A propulsive true crime–inspired thriller of masks, murder, and long-awaited justice by Washington Post bestselling author Loreth Anne White.

By invitation only, nine elite guests board the luxurious Black Orchid for its maiden voyage through the mythic Aegean Sea. Not all of them will survive.

Poppy Buchanan, personal assistant to legendary war photographer Lillith McGregor, sees the cruise as her chance at a better life—if she can edge her way into Lillith’s will. But their exclusive company includes Lillith’s disinherited stepson and his ruthlessly ambitious fiancée, a silent Israeli businessman with a dangerous past, a charming Dutch antiquities dealer with an agenda of his own, and a retired FBI profiler hunting a serial killer he believes is aboard. Each passenger is a piece in a deadly puzzle decades in the making.

Within three days, their paths will collide during a catastrophic storm. Long-buried secrets surface. Masks fall away. And the ensuing revelations trigger a chain of events that leads to one of the most devastating maritime disasters in recent history. But the sinking of the Black Orchid is no accident—it’s a reckoning.

Loreth Anne White is an award-winning Amazon Charts, Washington Post, and Bild bestselling author of thrillers, mysteries, and suspense with over four million books sold around the world in more than twenty languages. Before turning to fiction, she worked as a journalist in both South Africa and Canada. She resides in the Canadian Pacific Northwest, dividing time between Victoria on Vancouver Island, a ski resort in the Coast Mountains, and a remote lakeside writing cabin in the Cariboo. When Loreth is not crafting stories, you’ll likely find her on—or in—the lakes or ocean or on local trails, where she tries—unsuccessfully—to avoid bears. For more information on her books, please visit www.lorethannewhite.com

For fans of Knives Out and Agatha Christie’s locked-room mysteries, this atmospheric thriller weaves Greek mythology and true crime inspired by a 1970s serial killer into an unforgettable tale. I was riveted by White’s masterful structure as nine strangers’ dark secrets collide aboard a doomed luxury cruise, building to a reckoning decades in the making.

—Megan Sakoi, Editor