The Magnolia Palace, as with the other two novels I read, was told in two stories during two different moments in of history: the period in New York after the 1918 flu pandemic and during the turbulent 1960s.
The main character in the earlier time period was Miss Lily who, running from a scandal as Angelica, the artists' muse, becomes personal secretary to demanding Helen Frick, daughter of the industrialist, Henry Clay Frick. It really does seem like the perfect fit for Lily considering her knowledge of art. There's romance, mystery, intrigue in the story. This storyline gives a real taste of New York City society during the post WWI years.
The latter time period is 1966. The Frick Mansion has been a museum for years. Novice model Veronica is on a photo shoot at the museum. The shoot doesn't work out well for Veronica and she gets locked into the museum... in the middle of a blizzard... with a young black museum intern. With nothing better to do, Veronica explores the museum and comes across what appears to be a scavenger hunt. To pass the time, Veronica and Joshua, the intern, try to solve the scavenger hunt. In doing so, it's possible they might solve one of the mysteries left over from Helen and Miss Lily's days.
Of the three Davis novels that I've read, I probably liked this one the least. But I still enjoyed reading it. And I really, really want to go to the Frick on some future visit to New York.
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