Kristin Harmel is back in rare form after overcoming a personal crisis of her own in The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau (#1,331). This one has a dual timeline: Paris during the Nazi occupation, and a jewelry exhibit in Boston in 2018. Colette Marceau is the link.
Colette sees an article on an upcoming exhibit featuring twentieth century jewels at a local museum. It contains a photo of an intricately designed bracelet which she has not laid eyes on since it disappeared with her four-year-old sister Liliane during a Nazi raid in Paris in 1942. Her sister's body turned up in the river, but the bracelet sewn into the hem of her nightgown was gone. Until now. Colette is determined to find out where the bracelet has been and who might have been responsible for her sister's death.
It won't be easy, since Colette has spent the intervening years as an accomplished jewel thief herself, carrying on the family tradition as descendants of the legendary Robin Hood. During the Nazi occupation of Paris this meant relieving the Nazis and their collaborators of their ill-gotten gains and funding the Resistance movement to provide papers and safe passage for Jews out of Paris. It got her mother killed by the Nazis during World War II, but it was key to Colette's survival.
It's a gripping read as the links are gradually connected. My only complaint about The Stolen Life is that maybe a few too many links were tied up with neat little bows at the end. It was kind of a "happily ever after" overload. I'm sure that's just me... I'm glad Ms. Harmel is back!
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