OVERVIEW

Bestselling author Jocelyn Green sweeps you away in a dazzling novel of secrets, betrayal, and romance within one of New York City’s most esteemed museums.

For years her explorer father promised Dr. Lauren Westlake she’d accompany him on one of his Egyptian expeditions. But as the empty promises mounted, Lauren determined to earn her own way. Now the assistant curator of Egyptology for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lauren receives two unexpected invitations.

The first is her repentant father’s offer to finally bring her to Egypt as his colleague on a new expedition. The second is a chance to enter the world of New York’s wealthiest patrons who have been victims of art fraud.

With Egyptomania sweeping the city after the discovery of King Tut’s tomb, Detective Joe Caravello is on the hunt for a notorious forger preying on the open wallets of New York’s high society. Dr. Westlake is just the expert he needs to help him track the criminal. Together they search for the truth, and the closer Lauren and Joe get to discovering the forger’s identity, the more entangled they become in a web of deception and crime.

MY REVIEW

Disclaimer: Although I received an electronic advance copy of this book from the publisher, the opinions below are my own.

Hurrah! Jocelyn Green is back with a brand new series, this time set in New York City at the height of prohibition. Lauren and her two room mates work in museums next to Central Park, and are fortunate to have an apartment on Central Park West. She’s known Joe since they were children exploring the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He might be a cop, and the son of Italian restauranteurs, but that doesn’t mean he can’t socialize with the best of them. He can’t fail when he’s with Lauren, and he might just learn why his ex-partner went off the rails and shot someone at point blank range during a police raid.

At first, I wondered where the plot was headed. How could Joe’s ex-partner be connected to fake artwork? In the fifth chapter, however, an event took place that I felt could develop into something, and we were off to the races! From then on, The Metropolitan Affair was so very difficult to put down. The day before I left to come to England (where I am now) I was reading instead of packing. I told myself I’d read until the battery of my ereader ran down. In the end, it was a race to see which would happen first: me finishing the book or the battery going. Finishing the book won. I had 2% left of the battery! No, I won’t tell you what that event in chapter five was; you need to discover for yourself.

The Metropolitan Affair is about secrets and lies, and heartbreak and betrayal. It shows us that reputations and characters can be as fake as a vase with the wrong type of hieroglyphs on it for its style. It also reminds us how wealth doesn’t always equal happiness. As I said earlier it is the first in a new series, one called On Central Park. I’m hoping the next titles in the series are about the roommates Elsa and Ivy. After all, they do live and work… on Central Park.

RATING

BOOK INFORMATION

Publisher: Bethany House (a division of Baker Publishing)

Publication Date: 14 March 2023

Book Information

Excerpt