Lonnie Morrow is an accomplished bird artist at the Smithsonian Museum who loves her job. But when she receives a call from her younger brother summoning her back home to help their stubborn mother recover from an accident, Lonnie's quiet, stable life in Washington, D.C., is thrown into disarray, and she finds herself exactly where she doesn't want to be.

As Lonnie rummages through her mother's belongings, she discovers snippets and fragments of a time in her life she'd rather forget—a childhood marked by her father Boyd's drowning death and her mother Ruth's constant bad mood. When Lonnie stumbles upon a single cryptic note from a stranger—"There are a few things I must tell you about Boyd's death"—she begins a dangerous journey to discover the truth, all the while struggling to reconnect with her mother and reconcile with her brother and his wife, who seem to bring her down at every turn. To make matters worse, she meets a man in Florida, whose easygoing, charismatic charm threatens everything she's worked for.

As Lonnie navigates two worlds—her professional accomplishments in Washington, D.C., and her small-town childhood—she must decide whether to delve into the dark half-truths, avenging the past or burying it forever.

"The Swamp Queen" explores what it means to be a daughter and how we protect those we love. Susan Feldman, author of "Sisters of the Great War," writes, "Fans of Delia Owens and Lauren Groff will find this a fascinating and gripping novel."