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 questions from a younger generation. To make matters more worrying, items in the Dior collection mysteriously begin to disappear. Meanwhile, Margaret must deal with revelations after her father's death-secrets that force her to confront her family's 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, and ear for spicy dialogue, Katherine Ashenburg deftly creates a page-turning tale.