In Lily White Lie, engravings on a pocketwatch, cryptic messages, Easter lilies, and sidelined spy Bret Kilmore combine to thrust historian Wrenn Grayson into the mysterious world of symbolism. A worried Wrenn connects the messages to her longtime love Gideon and his father. Contact is impossible. Gideon deer hunts deep in the West Virginia wilderness. His father, a prominent banker, vanished after he uncovered a money-laundering scheme.

Bret disagrees with Wrenn’s assessment. He believes the messages threaten her. They both agree on the symbolism behind the lilies: Lilies signify death. But can Wrenn trust Bret, the man who coincidentally arrived in concert with the first message? The symbolism here is less clear: Bret is a man of intricacies, of light and dark, and lingering shadows.

The pocketwatch ticks off the time Wrenn doesn’t have. Danger mounts while every viable solution evaporates into mist.