The Metropolitan Affair

In this gripping entry, Green (Drawn by the Current) follows a pair of reunited friends as they try to get to the bottom of a spate of artifact forgeries in 1925 Manhattan. Egyptologist Lauren Westlake and detective Joe Caravello met at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as adolescents and formed a deep connection. As adults, they’ve drifted apart, but when Joe suspects a link between a recent speakeasy shooting and the rash of forged Egyptian antiquities plaguing the city’s art collectors, he turns to Lauren, now assistant curator of Egyptian art at the Met, for help. Meanwhile Lauren, aching for the father she’s never been close to, works to improve their distant relationship, though she’s beginning to wonder if he might be connected to Joe’s case. As the two work through layers of the mystery, Lauren draws on her faith to navigate the case, her complicated past with her father, and her growing feelings for Joe. With a convincing backdrop of Prohibition-era New York, Green carefully weaves historical detail and complex relationships into a tense narrative that doesn’t let up till the close. The author’s fans won’t be disappointed. (Mar.)