NetGalley Description:
Step into the beguiling world of 1926 New York and discover the power of resilience, friendship, and love from award-winning author Jocelyn Green.
Elsa Reisner’s lifelong dream of working as an ornithologist at the American Museum of Natural History is fading as the job begins to drain her passion. But fate takes an unexpected turn when she is assigned to catalog the bequest of a recently deceased patron whose Gothic country mansion holds secrets and treasures waiting to be discovered.
As Elsa delves into her task, she forms an unlikely bond with the estate’s delightful gardener and her daughter, as well as an architectural salvage dealer who still bears scars from the Great War. Together, they embark on a thrilling treasure hunt for a missing relic intended to safeguard the servants’ futures before the estate is sold. At the same time, Elsa’s body seems to betray her with new symptoms from a childhood disease that isn’t through with her yet.
With the brooding veteran and her handsome colleague joining the search, Elsa must navigate the tangled web of secrets and hidden motives along with the changing state of her health. As her deadline looms ever closer, will she be able to secure a new life for her friends before the estate slips from their grasp?
Review by Coffee&Ink
This is a well-done historical mystery set in the beautiful Hudson Valley just after WWI. The writing is excellent, as well as the characterizations. The legacy of polio, PTSD, autism are well represented against the backdrop of eugenics, but this is only part of the historical setting and characters. The mystery itself, if you’re looking for an interesting, complicated puzzle with high stakes, is very satisfying.
Elsa works for the American Museum of Natural History (the first novel in the series started at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) in the Ornithology section preparing the bodies of rare birds for display. She is sent to obtain the collection of a recently deceased widow’s estate along the river and finds a solid mystery and so much more. I’m really looking forward to reading the first book in the series and whatever follows. Highly recommended historical mystery.
thank you NetGalley and AustenProse for a copy of this book to read and review.
Coffee And Ink 