Meet Madame Koska—a fabulous haute couture designer and the owner of a new atelier in 1920’s London who has a knack at solving crimes that simply baffle the police.
When a priceless brooch disappears from a museum in Russia, Madame Koska is suddenly drawn into the mystery. But who is Madame Koska? And what does the missing jewel have to do with her? Find out in her first adventure!
Madame Koska & the Imperial Brooch by Ilil Arbel is a historical mystery set in London after World War I. As historical mysteries are my jam, I was ready to read.
Madame Koska employs various people to help her with her new fashion line, including an ex-Countess and a rich English girl. Things start spiraling out of control when her new boutique is broken into. After that, secrets start piling up until Madame Koska carefully pulls them apart.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's not too long and almost hits that cozy mystery button. Madame Koska has a mysterious background, but still chooses to run in elite Russian circles. Well, as elite as they can be after the Boshelivk Revolution.
I don't know a lot about what was happening after WWI, so it was interesting to find out. I also liked learning about what happened to the elite Russians who had fled from their country. A lot of the things they left behind, jewelry, etc. are important to the plot and I think even still talked about today.
I learned a few things. One, was that mannequin was another word for model, not just the blank stand we see in stores today. The other thing the book talked a lot about was Catherine the Great and it told of her lovers and a small history of her. It was just so interesting.
Madame Koska is also a joy to read about. I want to know more about her and why she is like she is. She's like Phryne Fisher, but does less of the flouting of rules as Phryne does. I think they'd get along though.
The mystery was pretty good as well. I don't want to spoil it, so I'm trying to be as vague as possible. I wasn't sure who the villain was, so I was surprised at the ending. All the red herrings actually led somewhere and most things were tied up nicely. There were some subjects brought up that I knew would come back around, and they did, just not how I expected.
I would love to read more books about Madame Koska. I do enjoy a nice read with a good mystery and this book has that.
Here's an Amazon Affiliate link, if you'd like to buy it:
No comments:
Post a Comment