The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis (2025 fiction)

The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis (2025 fiction): Fiona Davis novels are based on buildings. She has written such novels as The Dollhouse (the Barbizon), The Address (the Dakota), The Masterpiece (Grand Central Terminal), The Lions of Fifth Avenue (the New York Public Library), and now The Stolen Queen, most of which takes place in the New York Metropolitan Museum. In 1978, Charlotte Cross is an Egyptologist, curator of the Museum’s Egyptian collection, but in 1936, she participated in archaeological digs in Egypt, where she discovers what may be the tomb of a female Pharoah. After tragedy strikes, she returns to New York to recover and bury herself in the Museum. A relic from her long-ago dig shows up as a donation, setting off a new search for her Queen of Egypt. At the same time, Annie Jenkins falls into the position of assistant to Diana Vreeland, curator of the Museum’s fashion collection, where she is immediately but briefly successful until the Met Gala is sabotaged and a damaged bust of the same Queen, one of the most celebrated items in the Museum’s Egyptian collection is stolen. In an attempt to trace the stolen sculpture and reconcile events in Charlotte’s past, she and Annie embark on a trip to Egypt, where they discover astonishing information. This is a well-researched, fast-moving novel that grabs your interest and doesn’t let go until the end. I highly recommend it, as well as any of the other Fiona Davis books. 

Reviewed by Ginger Russell