In a riveting biography that reads like a crime novel, Sibert Medalist and Newbery-Honor winner Susan Campbell Bartoletti uncovers the true story of Mary Mallon, a.k.a. Typhoid Mary, one of the most notorious and misunderstood women in American history.

In which Mrs. Warren has a servant problem -- In which the Warrens get more than their just dessert -- In which the usual suspects are questioned -- In which an epidemic fighter hunts for a clue -- In which the cook rules the kitchen -- In which Mary walks more like a man than a woman -- In which extraordinary and arbitrary powers are at work -- In which Mary fights like a caged lion -- In which Mary's bad behavior leads to her doom -- In which there's some name calling -- In which Mary is banished like a leper -- In which Mary has her day in court -- In which Mary learns to keep her germs to herself -- In which it takes a squad of sanitary police -- In which a weaker spirit might have been broken -- Afterword, in which we consider the research and writing of Mary's life.