As she gossips poolside with a gay couple, one of whom is an Egyptologist studying the museum’s ancient artifacts, and insinuates herself into the hotel’s daily rituals, there are hints that Maggie is not as nice, nor as well-intentioned, as her first-person patter would suggest.

Meddling in the affairs of a married couple she decides need to be broken up — part of her mission to “change people’s lives for the better” — Maggie’s caught outside their room after planting incriminating evidence of the husband’s nonexistent affair by Otto, a precocious 8-year-old who’s mysteriously arrived at the hotel from Paris with his mother.

When Otto boldly blackmails Maggie into paying for a room upgrade in exchange for his silence, it’s not just a matter of game recognizing game.

Soon the two are involved in a tit-for-tat escalation that has dire consequences for everyone in their orbit and reveals Otto as Maggie’s formidable “Bad Seed” foe.

How did you create Maggie Burkhardt?