Switzerland, 1930s: the Belgian Detective and his loyal companion arrive at the Grand Hôtel Aurora above Lake Geneva for a restful holiday that lasts approximately one cocktail — Lord Edric Mallory, rich, loud, and dangerously in love, is engaged to a Russian countess who has already buried two husbands and shows no sign of remorse, his children despise her, his doctor watches her too closely, his younger son looks at her with the wrong kind of silence, and when the countess collapses at dinner and falls into a coma that no one can explain, every guest becomes a suspect and every kindness looks like a performance; as a poisoned champagne glass, a switched medical vial, a love letter that was never sent, a Pekingese with unexpected talents, and a doctor whose devotion hides something far more dangerous than medicine converge, the detective must wake the Sleeping Beauty before someone ensures she never opens her eyes again; The Sleeping Beauty is an original Golden Age–style mystery about wealth, desire, and the discovery that the most dangerous person in the room is not the one who hates but the one who loves without permission.