The Stolen Queen by Fiona Davis

January 2025

I have been a passionate reader of Fiona Davis’ novels --- all eight of them. So when I tell you that I think THE STOLEN QUEEN is her best one, it’s really high praise.

As long-time readers know, Fiona sets her books in iconic New York City buildings. This time it’s the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As always, there are two time frames. This one takes place in 1936 and 1978.

In Egypt, the setting for the earlier chapters, Charlotte Cross is on a dig with a number of other archaeologists. Along the way, she finds a tomb that has not been completely researched. It belongs to Hathorkare, a female pharaoh who has not been given her due in history. Charlotte finds a broad collar in gold, which hints that this woman had been regal. Fiona has us entrenched in the ruins with the team, and we feel like we are dusting off the treasures found there.

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The Note by Alafair Burke

January 2025

In THE NOTE by Alafair Burke, three friends have decamped to a stunning place in the Hamptons for a reunion visit. It all sounds idyllic, but this is a thriller, so don’t settle back in your chair and relax.

Lauren, Kelsey and May have not seen each other in a while. But it quickly becomes clear that had they not attended the same camp in the past, they probably would not be in each other’s lives. They were close at one time, but we don’t know exactly why they’re spending time together now. Is it to share memories, or something else? Each has a history that is carefully parsed to readers, as something scandalous or embarrassing has happened to them. They know some of each other’s secrets, but not all of them. Alafair does a great job of drawing us deeper and deeper into their lives.

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Kate Fagan, author of The Three Lives of Cate Kay

Cate Kay knows how to craft a story. As the creator of a bestselling book trilogy that struck box office gold as a film series, she’s one of the most successful authors of her generation. The thing is, Cate Kay doesn’t really exist. She’s never attended author events or granted any interviews. Her real identity had been a closely guarded secret, until now. As a young adult, she and her best friend, Amanda, dreamed of escaping their difficult homes and moving to California to become movie stars. But the day before their grand adventure, a tragedy shattered their dreams, and Cate has been on the run ever since, taking on different names and charting a new future. But after a shocking revelation, Cate understands that returning home is the only way she’ll be a whole person again.

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Weike Wang, author of Rental House

Keru and Nate are college sweethearts who marry despite their family differences: Keru’s strict, Chinese, immigrant parents demand perfection, while Nate’s rural, white, working-class family distrusts his intellectual ambitions and his “foreign” wife. Some years into their marriage, the couple invites their families on vacation. At a Cape Cod beach house, and later at a luxury Catskills bungalow, Keru, Nate and their giant sheepdog navigate visits from in-laws and unexpected guests, all while wondering if they have what it takes to answer the big questions: How do you cope when your spouse and your family of origin clash? How many people (and dogs) make a family? And when the pack starts to disintegrate, what can you do to shepherd everyone back together?

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Karissa Chen, author of Homeseeking

Haiwen is buying bananas at a 99 Ranch Market in Los Angeles when he looks up and sees Suchi, his Suchi, for the first time in 60 years. To recently widowed Haiwen it feels like a second chance, but Suchi has only survived by refusing to look back. Suchi was seven when she first met Haiwen in their Shanghai neighborhood, drawn by the sound of his violin. Their childhood friendship blossomed into soul-deep love, but when Haiwen secretly enlisted in the Nationalist army in 1947 to save his brother from the draft, she was left with just his violin and a note: Forgive me. HOMESEEKING follows the separated lovers through six decades of tumultuous Chinese history, telling Haiwen’s story from the present to the past while tracing Suchi’s from her childhood to the present, meeting in the crucible of their lives.

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Emma Knight, author of The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus

Arriving at the University of Edinburgh for her first term, Pen knows that her divorced parents back in Canada are hiding something from her. She believes she’ll find the answer here in Scotland, where an old friend of her father’s --- now a famous writer known as Lord Lennox --- lives. When she is invited to spend the weekend at Lord Lennox’s centuries-old estate with his enveloping, fascinating family, Pen begins to unravel her parents’ secret, just as she’s falling in love for the first time. As Pen experiences the sharp shock of adulthood, she comes to rely on herself for the first time in her life.

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Tracey Lange, author of What Happened to the McCrays?

When Kyle McCray gets word that his father has suffered a debilitating stroke, he returns to his hometown of Potsdam, New York. Kyle left suddenly two-and-a-half years ago, abandoning people who depended on him: his father, his employees, his friends --- not to mention Casey, his wife of 16 years and a beloved teacher in town. He plans to lie low and help his dad recuperate until he can leave again. The longer he’s home, the more Kyle understands the impact his departure has had on the people he left behind. When he’s presented with an opportunity for redemption as the coach of the floundering middle-school hockey team, he begins to find compassion in unexpected places. Kyle even considers staying in Potsdam, but that’s only possible if he and Casey can come to some kind of peace with each other.

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Fiona Davis, author of The Stolen Queen

Egypt, 1936: Anthropology student Charlotte Cross is offered and accepts a coveted spot on an archaeological dig in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. But then an unbearable tragedy strikes. New York City, 1978: Nineteen-year-old Annie Jenkins lands an opportunity to work for former Vogue fashion editor Diana Vreeland, who’s in the midst of organizing the famous Met Gala. Meanwhile, Charlotte is now leading a quiet life as the associate curator of the Met’s celebrated Department of Egyptian Art. She’s consumed by her research on Hathorkare --- a rare female pharaoh dismissed by most other Egyptologists as unimportant. The night of the gala: One of the Egyptian art collection’s most valuable artifacts goes missing, and there are signs that Hathorkare’s legendary curse might be reawakening. Annie and Charlotte team up to search for the missing antiquity.

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