Fashion, mystery, and politics combine in this delectable, pacey novel set in a big-city museum where an ambitious curator is launching a controversial exhibition of Christian Dior's "New Look."

At work, Margaret is the well-regarded curator of fashion for a big city museum. At home, she is the mother of lively, teenaged twin girls, the spouse of a successful mystery writer, and a daughter still grieving the recent death of her beloved father. As she prepares to launch a career-defining exhibition on the haute couture of legendary French designer Dior, she faces fierce internal politics from her peers alongside unsettling expectations from a younger generation. To make matters more worrying, pieces in the Dior collection mysteriously begin to disappear. Meanwhile, at home Margaret confronts revelations after her father's death-family secrets that finally force her to confront her long-suppressed Jewish heritage. Struggles at work and home entwine in the unlikely figure of an elderly collector of couture-one who may have a long-ago connection to Dior himself.
With her trademark wit, keen observation of human foibles, deep love of textiles and craft, eye for telling detail and ear for spicy dialogue, Katherine Ashenburg deftly crafts a page-turning tale that is equal parts delight and mystery.