A Map To Paradise

A Map To Paradise by Susan Meissner

1956, Malibu, California: Something feels off on Paradise Circle.

Once a rising star, Melanie Cole is now an out-of-work actress with her name on the Hollywood blacklist and her life in limbo. Her only company is her reclusive next-door neighbor, Elwood, a successful screenwriter whose agoraphobia keeps their conversations limited to brief exchanges through windows. He's her closest companion in her isolation, as she and her maid, Eva—a quiet Eastern European immigrant—rarely speak. 

Then, one early morning, both women witness Elwood's sister-in-law and caretaker, June, digging in his rose garden just before dawn. After that, Elwood disappears entirely. A man who never leaves his home—where could he have gone? 

Curiosity gets the best of them, and the two women start to investigate. But as they creep into June’s life, they uncover an unexpected secret and a startling shared purpose that neither could have anticipated.