The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis

For years, Lillian Carter was known simply as Angelica, muse to some of the greatest artists of the time. Her likeness is found in famous pieces across New York City. But now she finds herself at a crossroad. Having lost her mother to the Spanish Flu in 1919, she has lost her manager and best friend. She is struggling to make money while avoiding the wily advances of her landlord. When she returns home one day, she finds that her landlord has murdered his wife and that she is wanted for questioning because of her “relationship” with him. In a moment of complete panic, she sneaks out her window and off into the night. She lies her way into a job as the personal secretary of Miss Helen Frick, daughter of industrialist and Henry Clay Frick, using it to bide time until she collects enough money to go west and fulfill her dream of becoming a Hollywood starlet. Little does she know that she will end up in the middle of a love triangle and another murder investigation.

In 1966 New York City, British model Veronica Weber is invited to do a photo shoot at the luxurious Frick Collection, now a premier museum and research center for art. When the models are told to make snow angels in ballgowns in the middle of a snowstorm, Veronica tries to defend them, and she is thrown out of the shoot. While collecting herself and her things, she stumbles upon clues to a long-forgotten scavenger hunt between lovers, she gets sidetracked and soon finds herself alone in the mansion in the middle of a snowstorm. She is not alone, however, and soon meets Joshua Lawrence, an intern who also is stuck in the museum. They cannot leave without setting off the alarms, and finding a white woman and a blank man setting off the alarms of a museum would not end well for either party, so they decide to ride out the storm. Veronica eventually reveals the clues she found to Joshua, and they complete the scavenger hunt. Little do they know, they are not alone in the mansion.

What Veronica finds at the end of the scavenger hunt could solve at least one of Lillian’s murder mysteries that has existed for almost 50 years.

Davis is a master of historical fiction, and she interweaves these two tales in a way that leaves you not wanting to put the book down. If you are a fan of Beatriz Williams and Jennifer Chiaverini, you will enjoy this book or others by Davis, such as The Chelsea Girls and Masterpiece.