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3.79 AVERAGE
3.79 AVERAGE
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Another great Fiona Davis read, this one based on the fictional interaction of real historical people with a second timeline set in the current day. The mystery unfolds beautifully as she moves us back and forth.
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death
Minor: Racism, Murder
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
hopeful
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
informative
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Magnolia Palace is another engaging historical read from Fiona Davis. Continuing her trend of seamlessly blending fact and fiction, I enjoyed this look into an upper-crust New York family I didn’t know much about previously, as well as all the scandal and drama that happens within the family and the society they run in.
While not a POV character in either of the two timelines, Helen Frick, daughter and heiress to the fortune of industrialist Henry Clay Frick, anchors the novel. And I think it works well that way. She’s a larger-than-life personality, independent minded and business savvy. However, given the angle the story takes, it is helpful to see things from more objective viewpoints, in regards to her, the family, and their property.
Lillian is definitely the more interesting of the two protagonists. She has dealt with a lot of loss, including the death of her mother due to the Spanish flu, and while she was once a popular artists’ model, she’s been struggling to find work, which makes the position as Helen Frick’s secretary such a boon. However, this also involves concealing her past, which is complicated, when she’s also worked with other high society people in her old life.
I did like Veronica too, and especially the parallels in her position in life at the start of her arc, trying to navigate her own career starting off in modeling, figuring things out, and supporting her family.
This book was definitely a bit of a slow-burn when it came to the promised mystery elements, with the heist and murder, with the heist lingering the background for the most part and the murder only really coming into play by the end. Davis does a good job of building small-scale tension for the characters with the way she ends each chapter, and while the transition between timelines then results in it sometimes feeling a little clunky, it doesn’t impact the flow too much.
While I enjoyed this one a bit less than the first, I still found a lot that I did like. I definitely leaned more toward the historical side with the mystery coming to the forefront at the end, whereas the mystery thread was a subtle, yet still noticeable factor in her previous novel. Which you prefer will likely depend on your own tastes.